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Letters to the Editor


EcoCare fiasco
Well said Christian Simon in your response to Ian Greenwood (Focus, Letters to the Editor, Dec 7.) Dr Greenwood's self immolation just reinforces the inept processes that led to the present situation where the MRRA is endeavouring to redress and make accountable the agencies who should have remedied the illegal and shocking decisions made around the EcoCare fiasco.

I liked the comment from Worzel’s World on November 23: "Politics is another modern tool of plunder. Why bother killing useful labour units in order to steal their resources when regulation, negotiation and manipulation can just as readily divest people of their sovereignty, liberty…”

This very relative to the indecision and pass-the-buck process that led to underhand and atrocious retrospective legislation that attempted to sweep the problem away. Then KDC has now had to suffer the bully tactics of commissioners who exercise self-serving and sick methods of retribution to anyone who democratically exercises the rights once available to the public.

Philip Scothern
Mangawhai


Habitat destroyed

I was alarmed to learn that 17 hectares of mangroves have been trashed. New Zealand fairy terns are our most endangered birds and possibly the world's rarest sea bird, yet this disturbance to their habitat is permitted.

Mangawhai Harbour has been identified as an IBA – Important Bird Area. Although DOC and volunteers are doing all they can to conserve fairy terns, the powers that be need to do their bit too.

The numbers of fairy terns that were once numerous in South Australia have plummeted too. This is due to drought, water extraction, habitat destruction and fox predation. Fairy terns must nest near their food source, so they have few options for nest sites.

The Australian and New Zealand species are genetically different. Our fairy terns (of which there are fewer than 40 birds) are alone. There is no room for complacency. It is our responsibility to preserve any habitat that is home to the fish on which they feed.

All stops should be pulled out for their protection as has been done for other endangered indigenous birds.

Dr Viola Palmer
Waikanae


Regular water testing

Chair of Kaipara Commissioners, Mr Robertson, now discloses to us that there has never been any systematic measurement of the water quality in the Mangawhai Harbour.

This will come as a huge surprise to many people, because the only justification ever given for spending an extortionate amount of money on a sewage scheme was the dangerous level of human pollution in the harbour, as recorded by testing.

It now appears that that justification must have been a lie, because not only was it not known if the pollution was human, it was not actually known if there was ever any pollution at all.

Those of us who know the truth, of course, are quite well aware that there was never a time when taking shellfish from the estuary or swimming in it posed the slightest risk to anyone’s health or wellbeing. That continues to be true today.

Some months ago an article appeared in the Mangawhai Focus reporting on real scientific tests that had been done on the water. That testing disclosed that all of the E. coli in the water was of bovine origin, and it was coming from a property very near Tern Point.

You don’t need a rejigged advisory panel to invent propaganda about water quality. All you need is a completely independent person to take water samples on a regular basis, and submit them to a certified laboratory for analysis.

If the council provided the modest amount of money required, the MRRA would very willingly undertake to do that task on behalf of the entire community, and make the results publicly available to anyone who wanted them.

Bruce Rogan,
Chair, MRRA


Tern Point not to blame

In response to Christian Simon’s letter re Tern Point (Focus, Letters to the Editor, Dec 7), I am the grazier of the Tern Point property and would like you to know what a wonderful job Tern Point have done fencing off all their waterways from the bovines. Even drains that only flow in extremely wet conditions have grass on the sides filtering any urine, etc.

These people have spent a lot of money to do more than their share for the environment and I would like to congratulate them. Maybe you should see if all the other farmers, or small block owners, that have boundaries onto waterways into the estuary have done the same.

The estuary may well be contaminated by bovines as there are a lot of places upstream that this contamination may have come from, but I don’t believe it is from Tern Point.

As the graziers, we don’t use any hormones, nor do we apply any nitrogen-based fertilisers, nor do we use any spray or chemicals on the property.

Karen Woolley
Mangawhai


EcoCare matters

I write as a professional with both civil engineering and postgraduate environmental science degrees. I commenced water quality studies more than 45 years ago and have worked internationally for many government organisations, the private sector, World Bank etc.

I have been keenly interested in the various, but limited, water quality studies in Mangawhai Harbour over the last 12-plus years, and undertaken numerous observations and some private measurements myself of our estuary. So it was with interest I read John Robertson's article in the last Focus stating we have a lot more to know about the water quality in the harbour and that little testing has been done. I fully agree.

How can he justify his claim that EcoCare has contributed to better health of the harbour? We do know that even with EcoCare the event of December 2014 resulted in what I believe was the worst recorded case of polluted water in the estuary since the ‘Big Dig’ thankfully restored a regular flow of water through the lower estuary in 1991.

As the Commissioners noted, a Water Quality Advisory Panel has been set up regarding the harbour water quality. I was not included as one of the four community members but the community members collectively agreed that I could be in effect a specialist advisor to the WQAP, and one member has outlined several aspects of the panel's intended activity.

At the time of writing I am still considering their offer. It is important that the community get value for money as it is all too easy to spend a lot of money on water quality testing resulting in few, if any, scientifically relevant results.

I take this opportunity to publicly state my opinion on some aspects of EcoCare:

1. KDC has not done enough to follow up with penalties, including recovery of monies, from the multiple entities responsible for the historical mess associated with EcoCare. It is now more than a year since the Focus reported comments from John Robertson about KDC taking action with but two of entities – the Auditor General and the former CEO. What has happened? Action against any of the others has been ruled out by the Commissioners. “Justice delayed is justice denied.”

2. The EcoCare Treatment Plant itself is technically good and is being well run; likewise the operators are doing as good a job as can be done with the reticulation (pipework etc around town) and the disposal farm. However, these two areas are economic and financial millstones around the community because of very poor past decision making by the KDC and its advisors and contractors.

3. I agree with the EcoCare advisory panel's recommendations for compulsory connection.

4. The KDC has done an extremely poor job of communicating about the ‘cost of connection’. Many I meet in the community think this as only the cost of the pipe from their toilets to the KDC-owned pipes. The so-called connection

cost is actually the household contribution to the whole capital works including pipework, pump stations, treatment plant and effluent disposal.

5. I have concerns when I hear about the “need to upgrade the treatment plant for various disposal operations.” Are we going down a path as before of unnecessary costs being imposed on the community and no one within KDC willing or capable of properly assessing the situation?

6. Lastly and perhaps controversially, from both environmental and financial viewpoints the disposal strategy adopted should be primarily focused on land disposal but should include the opportunity to discharge treated effluent to the lower harbour under controlled conditions during periods of extended heavy rains. By ruling out this opportunity during such extreme weather conditions, there will be a much higher cost than for any of the other technical options.

The Commissioners now have much less than a year left in office, unless their term is extended yet again. Given the historical snail's pace of visible action regarding EcoCare during their term, we as a community will need to get our voices heard on some very important EcoCare matters.

John Dickie
Mangawhai Heads


The Land of Twirling

The strange behaviour in Kaipara district as revealed in the recent TV documentary continues. Recent letters to your paper prove that.

First, we have the continuing vitriolic diatribes from the MRRA's Chairman. A year ago, the Commissioner had quite properly disclosed in this paper on his receiving dozens of emails from Mr Rogan “full of objectionable and unnecessary personal abuse.” Such irresponsible behaviour from Mr Rogan serves no useful purpose in advancing the plight of the now disenfranchised Mangawhai ratepayers. But worse than that, the actions of the MRRA now lack any credibility. It has played into the political aspirations in Wellington to shut us down.

Secondly we read of Dr Greenwood rising to the bait of Mr Rogan's inflammatory letter with a six column retort. Surely the valued interests of integrity and of achievement would have been better served by ignoring Mr Rogan entirely.

Thirdly, Mangawhai ratepayers continue to be bombarded by the publication of Commissioner Robertson's column pushing the concurrent themes of residents needing to look ahead and how well we all are. No one buys into this political spin.

Instead, what ratepayers need to be able to read in the paper is progress on how the Commissioners are honouring the assurance given a year ago of “sheeting home accountability by taking legal action against Audit New Zealand which we [the Commissioners] believe failed in its duties and against the former Chief Executive.”

That is the only game in town. Egos and political spin are just twirling.

Yesterday a long term resident asked me the following question: “What is the largest unfenced asylum in NZ?” Her answer: “Kaipara District.”

Sadly, she seems to be correct.

Christopher Dickie
Mangawhai


Democracy? Wow!

Nowhere have I read in newsprint informing residents and ratepayers facts and figures which led to the cost overrun. In my world it is abundantly clear ratepayers in general think someone else should pay. The downside of democracy is that it harbours dysfunctional sectors in society meaning “people with impairments of function.”

Congratulations Dr Greenwood (Focus, Letters to the Editor, Nov 23.) Dr Greenwood is the only resident/ratepayer I’ve read about to publicly stand up to Mangawhai’s newfound ‘nutters’ who lack commonsense and respect where respect is due.

How many times do the four signatories (Focus, Letters to the Editor, Nov 9) and other critics need reminding Mangawhai residents failed to accept a council-initiated, government-funded reticulated scheme back in 1978?

Sure, it would have needed upgrading today but not at such a heinous debt or excessive rate increase. Thirty-seven years on and the same NIMBY culture exists – and attacking a Wastewater Scheme Extension Advisory Panel member is not the answer.

From the original $26.3m quote, the LGA change of conditions helped push re-negotiations to $37.8m excluding farm storage. Tenderer bankrupted so a new round meant further increases. Pond siting near golf course in the sand was opposed adding another $14.3m for farm purchase, storage dam, irrigation system, transfer pipeline and extras.

The council opted to charge upfront fees ($2,700) on the original quote rather than $5,000 on the amended price.

Seriously folks, Mangawhai ratepayers – not other districts – each really owe $2,300 to make up the shortfall on the 1172 connections to the main sewer line. This is not even taking into account sundry extras, finance fees or escalating management fees through 2006/07/08.

Lifestyle block owners should also stump up the initial contribution of $2,700 as a contribution as they equally benefit from suburban development and clean environment measures.

Moving forward the WWSE panel should advise Council to:

(a) Sell the farm/dam complex as it is already a liability, and;

(b) Invest in purifying foulwater at the existing treatment plant and discharge the surplus into the ocean – not the harbour – an option never considered according to my inside contact.

Finally, when Mangawhai south and closed community population impacts on polluting the harbour, they too will need their own (south Mangawhai) purifying system.

Despite the poor management and execution of the scheme, if council had not addressed this initiative when they did we would still be wrangling over ‘what system, what price?’

Brace yourself Mangawhai, there are still more costs to come.

(Abridged)

Noel Paget
Mangawhai


Pollution bovine or human?

Dear John Robertson. Congratulations! Finally you got it: The mandatory connection to the centralised sewage system does not secure our estuary. It needed only one year and one month of writing to you and the Mangawhai Waste Water Scheme Advisory Panel dozens of letters to arrive to this point.

After a decade of trouble about the Waste Water Treatment Plant you wrote in the last Focus that you know nearly nothing about the Harbour water quality and that only very little water testing has been done.

The mandatory connection to the Waste Water Scheme was proclaimed to secure the water quality. But now you start another Advisory Panel to design a water testing program to identify the nature of water quality issues.

First the solution and then the research that causes the problem is the wrong strategy. Don’t make easy things complicated. We only need to recognise existing knowledge. Read for example Mike Joy’s just published booklet Polluted Inheritance: NZ’s Freshwater Crisis, and you will understand why we have found no human but bovine E. coli bacteria in our harbour.

What we have to do immediately is plant trees and fence a 5m chain on all streams and ditches to minimise bovine animal waste discharge in the estuary. My advice is: Stop the Chairman of your Waste Water Scheme Advisory Panel polluting the estuary by the animals of his community. This would make more sense than the advice of mandatory connection to the scheme. This centralised effluent from the treatment plant via the golf course or directly to the estuary or ocean will create more terrible pollution.

Perhaps it will need a couple of years with accumulating hormones and other human medicine till we find terrible results. But we know it today and we should stop it today.

Modern science knowledge comes to the same result like old Maori wisdom and we should consider the judgment of the Waitangi Tribunal 1978: Faeces belong to earth and not to water!

Another advisory panel to design a water testing program for the Mangawhai Harbour is only simulating action to hide the next $10m that shall be spent to extend the sewage scheme. What we need are Nil Discharge Systems.

We will provide for everyone who is interested (but especially for you and the members of the advisory panel) real, not just so-called sustainable solutions. Get informed what international knowledge provides: 6pm, January 9, 2016 at the Library Hall in Mangawhai.

Christian Simon
Mangawhai

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