By Andy Loader, Poke the Bear
There are past examples of where government has taken actions to reduce the effects of flooding and other types of natural disasters on communities after major weather related events have occurred.
One such example is the Lower Waikato Flood Protection Scheme which was put in place after the 1958 flood, by the then government, to not only protect the community and farmers from further flooding events but to protect vital national infrastructure too.
Yet we have seen over recent years there have been numerous severe weather events creating flooding and other associated effects such as land-slides, bridge collapses, roading wash outs etc.
So why hasn’t the Government taken action since then to dredge rivers, build stop banks etc. to prevent further occurrences from these types of events which we know will re-occur at some time in the future?
But like everything time moves on and now we see the blame being attributed to climate change for natural disasters being worse, and while events at times may be very bad, the inaction of the government to giving clear direction to extend and support to maintain these schemes that were put in place with government subsidies, these events are only going to impact on communities more and more.
Much of the government income has been spent on ideologically driven social engineering projects that while they may be nice to have in many cases they were not necessarily needed immediately and could have been quite easily prioritised for a later completion, leaving those funds to be spent on the upgrading of our critical infrastructure networks.
A classic example of this is the government diverting road related tax monies away from maintaining and improving our roading networks to make sure those communities can move around and allow them to get emergency services when required.
With all of the unexpected costs that NZ has had to bear in relation to the Covid pandemic and the measures to contain it, the current government needs to focus on the critical infrastructure that is required so that we get the best result from the spending of the limited funds that are available given the dire financial circumstances we face as a result of the Covid spending.
So the current government needs to adequately plan for the future infrastructure needs of NZ to accommodate population increases and the infrastructure that needs to be protected in the case of natural disasters.
Wastewater systems provide a critical service to society, and their vulnerability to the impacts of severe weather events places the health and sanitation of many communities at risk. Many towns and cities rely on old and often degraded pipes, which during heavy storms frequently overflow and wash sewage into rivers and the ocean.
Raging rivers and other waterways often cause erosion which can also worsen blockages and damage pipes and treatment plants. This may overload their systems and have a detrimental effect on water quality in streams, swimming and the collecting of kaimoana.
Many residents pay little attention to wastewater yet the Infrastructure capable of dealing with the weather extremes is expensive to build and maintain. Research has shown that we need to spend a lot more money to future proof our infrastructure.
The trouble being that none of our infrastructure will be able to be upgraded or even maintained, without an adequate supply of aggregates and under the current planning rules and legislation, it is almost impossible to guarantee a supply of aggregate.
If there are no allowances made in regional and district planning, for the provision of a supply of aggregates then there will be no realistic chance of achieving any of the goals for infrastructure development and maintenance.
Without a guaranteed supply of aggregates then society and its infrastructure will cease to exist in its current form. Aggregate is an absolute necessity of the developed environment in which we live.
No aggregates means no roading maintenance or development; no drainage materials; no concrete for manufacture of pipes for the drainage; no concrete for construction; no builders mix for the home handyman; in fact in a very short time if there is no aggregate supply then there is no economic activity at all.
In relation to the maintenance and development of infrastructure, the first and most important basic requirement is to have a guaranteed supply of aggregates.
In New Zealand we consume approximately eight tonnes of aggregates per head of population per year on an ongoing basis just to maintain society as we know it today. In times of reduced economic activity this figure can drop below four tonnes per head of population and in times of escalated activity the figure can rise to more than ten tonnes per head of population.
Usually the major supplies of aggregates are located in mainly rural land but the changing land uses of the areas surrounding the current quarry sites can result in an environment where quarrying is seen as an activity that must be removed from the proximity to those areas therefore causing it to stop and move further from those areas.
Yet aggregates can only be produced where nature has provided the natural rock resources and this dictates where quarries can be sited.
This move to shift quarries then has the effect of raising the costs of aggregates to the end users and has a flow on effect of reducing the amount of infrastructure maintenance or development that can be undertaken for the same amount of money, due to increased costs.
When you transport quarry products, you raise the price significantly with distance.
The heavy traffic also has a huge effect on the infrastructure requirements over and above the actual supply issues and on climate change issues such as the use of fossil fuels and the greenhouse gas effects from that.
Just recently the High Court has temporarily blocked a 29-hectare quarry development near a Hawke's Bay River after objections from local iwi.
The quarry was granted resource consent last year by an expert panel under post-Covid fast-track legislation aimed at speeding up social and economic recovery after the pandemic.
The problem in Hawke's Bay is there has been a severe flooding as a result of the recent cyclone occurrence, which has been exacerbated by the gradual build-up of gravel in the rivers; and at the same time we have seen significant reductions in allocation of gravel extraction from rivers.
More gravel should be extracted from Hawke's Bay Rivers to meet growing demand, including for the Hawke's Bay Expressway four-laning project, a quarry advocate says.
If more locally sourced aggregates, including gravel, were not made available close to the project, then aggregates would need to be transported from out of the area, which would increase the cost.
Hawke's Bay Regional Council (HBRC) sets allocations on how much gravel can be taken from rivers in the region.
The allocations allow excess gravel to be removed from rivers to reduce flood risk and also provide a vital resource for the likes of roading.
The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council says limits also ensure enough gravel is left behind to avoid erosion around bridges and roads, and also prevent negative changes to rivers.
Aggregate and Quarry Association (AQA) chief executive Wayne Scott has questioned the accuracy of the regional council's data for setting its allocations, and believes more gravel should be extracted.
The AQA estimated the entire Hawke's Bay Expressway upgrade - to begin construction in November- would require 600,000 tonnes of aggregate. Scott said if more locally sourced aggregates, including gravel, were not made available close to the project, then aggregates would likely need to come from out of the area, which would increase the cost.
The Regional Councils should carry out an economic analysis into the costs to the region from lost income because of flooding, not having resources to build infrastructure, costs of getting resource consents, consultation etc. and not just the effects on the environment or history when being asked to review consents for gravel extraction from the braided river systems.
If they allowed the rivers to be dredged to maintain the channel you might not get the flooding that has been recently seen, particularly in the braided rivers which tend to spread across flood plains and develop new channels from erosion effects. In addition to the prevention of flooding the dredging can provide a local source of quality aggregates for infrastructure maintenance and development.
A guaranteed supply of aggregates is the first issue that needs to be addressed when setting the planning priorities for infrastructure development and maintenance.
The reasons behind this opinion are as follows:
A supply of aggregates is the most crucial underpinning support requirement for all infrastructure maintenance and development.
Without a supply of rock society as we know it today cannot exist. We will soon be back to living a subsistence style similar to that which existed before the stone age man used the first piece of rock as a tool.
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