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Hello. If you’re not aware of it, the Wellington City Council is currently consulting and accepting submissions on proposals for Wellington’s ongoing water supply and demand and anticipated shortages. http://www.wellington.govt.nz/haveyoursay/publicinput/2010-10-draftwater.html
The three options are basically (1) Live with it and have water shortages, (2) Build a new dam, or (3) Implement a system of water meters and tariffs.
The dam proposal (according to page 13 of the discussion document) is aimed at the Whakatikei River, which flows from the Akatarawas into the Hutt River. It’s been noted in the document that “the Whakatikei site is considered to have moderate to high ecological value in view o indigenous vegetation within the area as well as a wide range of habitatt for lizards and invertabrates. The river’s water ecology would also be affected as flows change during construction and operation of such a facility.. There would be loss of aquatic habitat and also an effect on trout spawning that takes place, although the significant comnities of native fish are found downstream of where a dam would be located. Modifying the flow regime is also likely to degrade the quality of habitat according to GWRC.”
Personally I’ve never been there and don’t know what it’s like and obviously there’s a lot more to consider than just this, but if you have anything to express then submissions are being accepted through the above link until Friday 15th October, and then a revised plan is due out later in the year.
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