Wairarapa Water Use Project: Preliminary Social Impact Assessment

Abstract

The Wairarapa Water Use Project is an initiative of the Greater Wellington Regional Council to establish a multi-purpose water scheme or schemes based on harvesting, storage and distribution of water in the Ruamahanga Valley. At this early feasibility stage the project is considering five possible water storage options from an initial list of 14. Likely outcomes of the project include an increase in the area of irrigable land, greater security in the supply of irrigation water and subsequent intensification of land uses. The project has the potential to increase irrigation in the Wairarapa by 10-30,000 hectares from 12,000 hectares at present. This social impact assessment is a preliminary assessment as part of the pre-feasibility phase of the Project. It is at a broad level and not specific to a particular scheme or schemes. The analysis considers the current social context (without scheme) and the likely effects of the proposed additional irrigation at a broad level in a desk-based study. The assessment area comprised the three combined districts of South Wairarapa, Carterton and Masterton -the Combined Districts. Separate recreation and economic assessments were conducted.