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A Harihari dairy farmer whose land was flooded when a stopbank failed this year says river protection on the West Coast has become unaffordable and the Government should urgently restore subsidies for the work.
Andy Campbell lost the use of 100ha when the Wanganui River breached a stopbank last autumn and dumped thousands of tonnes of stones and gravel on his pasture.
“It’s cost us $500,000 and it’s going to be another year to get it all cleared.
“Fences were flattened, one was a foot deep in rubble and mud. It was basically half the farm out of action.”
It’s money that could have been saved if the stopbank had been repaired in time, Campbell says.
Wild rivers up and down the Coast are kept in their beds – most of the time – by stopbanks and rock-protection work carried out by the regional council and paid for by local landowners through special rates.
But the Westland councillor got no special treatment in his hour of need – the council effectively dithered.
“They came down and had a look and got consultants in.
“And while they were talking about it we got three floods, the river burst through in a big way and an $80,000 job turned into a $270,000 one.”
Those sorts of costs are unsustainable for small groups of local ratepayers, Campbell says.
“Most of these stopbanks were built in the 1970s and 80s by the old catchment boards with government subsidies.
“But that all stopped in the 90s when the regional councils came in and the subsidies went and maintenance basically stopped.”
Make room not barriers
Landowners and councils are increasingly being urged to retire land, retreat and “make room for the rivers” rather than fight a losing battle with them.
In the case of the sprawling, raging Waiho at Franz Josef that makes sense, Campbell says.
“It’s close to the glacier and there’s so much stuff coming down it it’s a special case.”
But if stopbanks elsewhere on the Coast are not maintained there’s more at stake than a few farms, he says.
“There’s also biodiversity. We had a presentation at the council from Forest and Bird about making room for rivers and one of the photos shown was actually of my stopbank.
“What they didn’t realise is that the stopbank also protects Lake Ianthe and a significant wetland. They’d both be wrecked if the river had its way.”
Forest and Bird regional conservation manager Nicki Snoyink says another councillor at the meeting remarked that for the first time in his life he found himself agreeing with the conservation group.
The council has begun consultation with the Franz Josef community over a plan by six specialists in the fields of river science and engineering that recommends removing the stopbanks on the Waiho’s south bank over the next 10 years and letting the river fan out over its natural flood plain.
Engineer Mat Gardner, one of the study’s authors, says although moving the highway will be extremely expensive and will take at least 10 years to design and build, the plan is the only realistic option.
“If the river is not released to the south it is very likely the riverbed will continue to rise putting Franz Josef township at ever greater risk.”
Even with the existing stopbanks there’s a growing risk of catastrophic flooding on the south bank flats with people, livestock, properties and infrastructure all in the path of potential floodwaters, the report warns.
Gardner says that risk is growing by the year, not just from climate change but also a change in the regular weather pattern known as the interdecadal Pacific oscillation.
“It’s a long-term oscillation of sea surface temperatures that lasts decades.
“We’ve had 30 years of a negative pattern and we’ve now entered a positive phase where the West Coast will get more west to sou’west winds and more rain and more sediment coming down those rivers.”
Blueprint for upheaval
The plan means relocating State Highway 6, the town’s airstrip and a rubbish dump and ultimately removing all protection for five dairy farms and about 80 residents on the south bank.
Campbell says it’s only in recent times that people have lived on the south bank and as stopbanks have been built over the years more people have built there.
“A friend’s grandad used to own the bottom farm but he used to ride down to work on it – they never lived there.
“It’s just the past 50 years people have been allowed to build.”
The burning question now is who might buy them out.
“The council can’t afford it. It would have to be the Government,” Campbell says.
But the Franz Josef plan should by no means be a blueprint for the rest of the Coast, he believes.
“Funding for flood protection has to be on a case-by-case basis.
“Like for Westport the benefit is obvious.
“The Government’s just spent $100 million fixing the flood damage, insurance companies have spent another $100 million and the cost of the flood walls they’re now going to build is just $30 million.”
The same goes for the many West Coast stopbanks protecting farms and other land between the Southern Alps and the sea, Campbell says.
“It makes sense for the Government to invest in those now and save a heap of money down the track.”
West Coast councils will be putting that case to the Government in the New Year.
Made with the support of the Public Interest Journalism Fund
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