Image: Keep Hawkes Bay quarries local. Tukituki River pictured.
The Aggregate & Quarry Association says the quarry industry would welcome the opportunity to engage with iwi and the wider community in Hawke’s Bay on the future of rivers in the region.
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council is proposing to consult after a Lincoln Agritech report on the Ngaruroro River suggested allowing the river to widen and deepen.
AQA CEO Wayne Scott says the industry is open to the discussion but long-standing issues in Hawke’s Bay around gravel extraction and water abstraction need to be managed very carefully.
“Water takes in the catchment have been over-subscribed for many years and are closely guarded. That has wide impacts for everyone including our sector.”
Wayne says the quarry industry understands the Council needs to manage multiple stakeholders on river flow, capacity and allocation, as well as navigating the associated cultural and heritage issues.
“All of us need fresh water to survive. Iwi attach important values to it. Farmers need it for crop security. The aggregate industry also requires water to meet required specifications for infrastructure supply in the region.”
Some years ago, a local quarry operator asked Council for a consent to take water for washing aggregate and was told there was none. When it was explained the water would wash aggregate and mostly soak back into the ground, a consent was granted.
“Allowing the Ngaruroro to build up and widen would not only mean no gravel extraction in the river but potentially beside it as well,” says Wayne.
“Our members need to understand how widening the river would help the water table. They are also only extracting on portions of the riverbed. While building up the depth of gravel may make the water table deeper, it may also make adjacent land more prone to flooding.
“Given its recent experiences, the Council needs to explore this risk thoroughly in any consultation with iwi, the community and our industry.”
Wayne Scott says the Council and Hawke’s Bay residents need to understand that as well as reducing flood risk, gravel extracted from the region’s riverbanks helps provide the aggregate needed for all its infrastructure.
“The last thing that’s needed is to rope off existing sources, especially those with the benefit of reducing flood risk. Gravel extraction from a river is a by-product of flood/river management for Council but it’s essential for the foundation of all that’s built in the region.”
A holistic economic and environmental analysis is required where the benefits of increasing groundwater levels is balanced against the cost and emissions of carting aggregate from faraway sources.
Since 2020, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has supported gravel extraction from the upper Tukituki River, even though it is less economically feasible for quarry operators. This $8m project was largely funded by Government to source quarry materials from central Hawke’s Bay rather than from quarries closer to Hastings and Napier.
“That money was largely spent on transporting quarry materials. Keeping local quarries with viable supplies of aggregate is the best option for Hawke’s Bay and that needs to be kept upfront in any consultation.” says Wayne Scott.
