Heretaunga Water Storage Project
Equitable water security for the Heretaunga Plains
The Heretaunga Plains are some of the best growing soils in the world. For a premier food producing region, they are a taonga to be valued and protected.
The Heretaunga Plains depend on a secure, sustainable supply of freshwater - for our homes, businesses and industry; for our farms, orchards and growers; and to maintain and protect our taio or natural environment.
Approximately 85 per cent of Hawke’s Bay’s population lives on the Heretaunga Plains; 80 per cent of Hawke’s Bay’s GDP is generated on the plains.
Water security is one of the biggest challenges for the Heretaunga Plains. The region’s economy, communities, and environment are already experiencing the pressure of a widening gap between freshwater supply and demand. Over the coming decades, these pressures will increase through increasing demand and as impacts of climate change intensify.
The collective task for Heretaunga is to determine how this gap between supply and demand should be addressed and what role community water storage should play in achieving long-term water security.
The Heretaunga Water Storage Project (HWSP) has been established to rigorously test that question.
The project is investigating a 27 million cubic metre (mm3) storage scheme at Whanawhana to harvest high winter flows and release water strategically to:
offset pump-induced stream depletion and support aquifer recharge
support the ecological recovery of lowland streams
protect reliability of water supply for existing consent holders
enable new water allocations for high-value land use, industry, and community / iwi development.
A full feasibility assessment, now underway, will provide the clarity required to make informed decisions.
Water security represents an opportunity to ensure more equitable, fairer access to freshwater than in the past. This website provides a short overview of the proposed project and how it is being advanced. It will be updated with more information as the process progresses.