WWA are proud to have undertaken the hydrogeological work for the Motutangi-Waiharara Water Users Group (MWWUG) - a collective of 18 rural property owners seeking groundwater take consents for existing or proposed avocado orchards. The scientific study work to demonstrate no more than minor effects on the Kaimaumau Wetland and the resource consenting process (including limited notification to other bore owners in the affected area) has taken over 2 years. The orchards are located to the west of the Kaimaumau Wetland (see map below) and the water source is located in the deep Aupouri Shellbed Aquifer, accessed through bores 70-140 m below the surface. The deep aquifer is separated from the water table or shallow aquifer that the wetland sits upon by multiple layers of iron pan, peat and very fine sand deposits, which along with the physical separation distance from the wetland, are the key reasons that pumping will not have a significant effect on the wetland. The MWWUG already felt aggrieved that their consenting process had taken so long, then learnt through the following newspaper article that consent had been granted on a non-notified (expedient) basis to directly extract peat from parts of the Kaimaumau wetland (brown area in map below). https://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/article.cfm?c_id=16&objectid=12034025
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