'WRC REGIONAL PLAN UDATE; STORMWATER, INCLUDING GULLIES’ Freshwater Policy Team Leader, Naomi Crawford & staff

Freshwater Policy Team leader, Naomi Crawford will head the presentation with WRC staff in attendance.

Note that the venue is Waiora House, corner of Kaimanawa Street and Spa Road – and we are holding our January meeting on the last Thursday of the month due to the holiday season.

Taupo Turangi Herald article, Chris Marshall December 19th, 2024

The topic of gullies, stormwater, land use, erosion and the implications for water quality will be to the fore at the first Taupō Lakes and Waterways meeting for 2025.

Members from the Waikato Regional Council’s freshwater policy team will be attending the meeting on January 30 to outline where the council is up to in its current plan review.

While the project the freshwater policy team was working on was in its early stages, said Naomi Crawford, WRC Team Leader Water Policy, such engagement opportunities would help it refine policy options based on the community feedback.

A lot of science and other information needed to be in place, she said, as well as checking statutory and legal obligations about what the council was required to review or address in terms of resource management.

“We have been working on all that technical detail and then we’ll be looking at socialising some options in the latter part of next year, but we won’t see a publicly notified document that people would be writing submissions on until 2027.”

However, issues of water management, land development, permitted activities and the effects on pumice soils could be a bit of a hot potato with people in the Taupō district, she said.

Team members would talk to the group about the focus of their project, time frames and when it would be delivering any changes, and how some effects would be managed in future.

“People are interested in land disturbance and erosion around the lake, these are hot topics, and the group is wanting protection of ephemeral gullies so we’re not getting loss of soil, or erosion issues.”

TLAW administrator Jane Penton said the group had invited the council update as it was really wanting to see consistency and a specific approach for pumice soils in the ongoing management of gullies.

There were simple benefits from good planning such as enhancing recreational uses, maintaining connectivity and attenuating stormwater runoff when new developments retained the natural flows, said Penton.

“It’s really about concerns when things go wrong, who’s responsible and how can we optimise their use. There are good examples around, we’re not banging the table about it.”

The Taupō Lakes and Waterways meeting will be at Waiora House, at 5.15 pm on Thursday, January 30.