The Project
The Tukituki Water Security Project (TWSP) is a community-driven project that aims to complement the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s and other activities related to water security.
The Tukituki Water Security Project (TWSP) is a community-driven project that aims to complement the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s and other activities related to water security.
The ‘catchment-scale’ project is an 83-metre dam on the Makaroro River, a tributary of the Tukituki River, which would store 90Mm3 of water. About 20% of its capacity has been set aside to enhance environmental river flows and the balance of the dam’s capacity will provide water supply for towns and communities, and support irrigation of approximately 22,000 hectares for higher value food production and processing. A downstream distribution project will reticulate and pressurise water supply, with an option to supplement the Lower Heretaunga catchment to help address water shortages in the Heretaunga region.
Environmental flows will be prioritised to ensure minimum river flows are met to provide improved river health and habitat protection in the summer months.
The project’s economic viability is based on its high to very high reliability, sufficient to support high-value land uses such as permanent horticulture, vegetable growing and seed production.
Underpinning this are strong hydrological credentials, a good dam site, a portfolio of ‘fit for purpose’ resource consents, a community that requires environmentally sustainable water security, and scope for growth in high-value food and fibre production and processing sector that is dependent on reliable water.