The Horowhenua Lake is in a sad state & the worst situation of any tribe in NZ. Why hasnt the Waitangi Tribunal kept its word and why hasn't this Lake been cleaned from the bottom up when both the Council and government knew they disposed of raw sewerage in this Lake --- but can't be bothered to fix it.

As for the Maori Iwi Reps on the Domain Board they get back after the court made them all stand down so the same ones voted get back in? so the sage continues as they cannot do the job they were there for. Perhaps its so they can plunder the pickings once the money comes thru in the Waitangi claims.

Winston Peters and the PM gave Clinton around $15m for to buy Chelsea a house or 2 or such like??? as a freebee ---------------when this Lake in NZ is the worst in NZ it gets nothing to bring back to its former glory. So welcome to the worst Lake and management by Iwi in NZ thats going nowhere fast. It could be productive but the idiots running the Lake Trustees and Domain Board cannot even think for themselves.

As for Philip Taueki he is just one owner and not kaitiaki of the Lake. He has no more right than any other owner & amazingly the number of court cases he has managed to put thru the court weare told this money comes from the HokioA lands that he is the Chairman of & he is using it as his private domain. We have heard he also financed the roofs of 3 homes that his brothers reside in including one Peter Heremaia lives in--rent free. These homes belong to the Hokio A Trust owners yet noone pays for the rent? Is this fair on the owners in this block and why isn't there a review of this Trust as Philip we are told has been robbing it blind from the trees harvest on the Hokio A Block lands to pay for his court cases and his vehicles & whatever else comes with having free monies. So the whole Horowhenua lands are a mess due to none other than Philip Taueki.

Lake Domain Board                                                                                                                                                             The Chairman: Chris Lester                                                                                                                                                Horowhenua District Council                                                                                                                                                 126-148 OXFORD STREET, LEVIN
28th February 2015
Kia ora Chairman Lester & Ministers
RE: SPEAKING RIGHT S & QUESTIONS TO THE DOMAIN BOARD UNANSWERED:
 

I wish to make comment on my speaking rights on Monday 6th Oct 2014 and would like formal answers to my questions. I am amazed that what I asked had no bearing whatsoever on the Domain Board yet this Board is it not, supposed to have jurisdiction over the Horowhenua Lake surface waters of which I am an owner in and a concerned resident. Your comments as stated below suggest it is the Lake Trustees I ask,  3 members of which are on your Board yet could not even pass comment to my questions at this meeting. The only comment was you the Chairman saying you were unaware of certain incidents and  Mayor Duffy saving the situation pointing out to me “its all stated in the Booklet : The Lake Horowhenua Accord Action Plan 2014-2016“ which it isn’t. Your summing up comments were “ Mayor Duffy has told me all I have mentioned can be found in this booklet”. This purports me to say you as Chairman hadn’t even sighted this booklet as you would have told me otherwise if there are by name, specific monitoring instruments in the inlets to Lake Horowhenua.

I quote from the minutes:

“Mr Tama Ruru posed a number of questions and concerns in relation to the iwi representatives keeping beneficial owners informed and providing updates in relation to what was happening at the Lake; how much longer would it be until the replacement iwi representative was appointed; and run off into the Arawhata Stream entering the Lake and if the effects of that were being monitored. Mr Ruru was advised that it was not the Domain Board’s responsibility to communicate with the beneficial owners, that was the responsibility of the Lake Trustees; the Board was also not responsible for monitoring at the Lake; that was being undertaken by Horizons Regional Council and information could be requested from that organisation; the Board was continuing to work with the Lake Trustees with regard to the appointment of the replacement iwi representative.”

My questions were to the point & I was directed  to read the “Accord Action Plan booklet 2014-2016” that provided little if any answers to my questions.

I now reiterate what I asked for:

1/. In August 2014 the new sewer line was perforated by Higgins Contracting Co Levin on the Hokio Beach Rd which allowed raw sewerage to  flow into the Lake unabated via the Arawhata Steam where the new bridge/roadworks was being renewed.  A total breach is it not & nothing said to anyone least of all the media or in your agenda. This is a Domain Board issue as raw sewerage does float on top of these waters yet was so quick to cover up?

1a/. I now ask were Higgins fined for this breach and by how much? and
1b/. Was resource consent in place? Marakopa Matakatea your Domain Board member & Iwi Rep /Lake Trustee that day said nothing? yet he is the designated watcher since this incident happened and was on the spot when Higgins finally told the Council what happened? But nothing further was said and it seems hushed up smartly and as can be seen nowhere is the incident in your minutes for discussion.
2/. I asked what type of monitoring systems were in place on this Lake and in particluar the Arawhata Stream outlet of contaminants and pollutants. eg. Are they continuous or quasi-continuous monitoring, & what types of monitoring is installed etc. No comment. Yet Robert Warrington officates with others & gets paid to carry out monitoring in the Accords new boat. He is a member on your Domain Board who could have answered this question this day. He did not? There is also no such monitoring equipment mentioned in this booklet describing what monitoring equipment is in the Lake, how data is calibrated, what it does and how frequently it monitors except once a month. I now wish to have these questions verified in writing to me and note what monitoring systems are in this Lake and where. I am sure as a Domain Board you have this information on hand as again you are responsible for the surface waters.
3/. When and what days was the monitoring carried out and can I as an owner have monthly reports regarding this. Do they use E-MDMS? Also if there is a lee period when perhaps sewerage & contaminants enter the Lake that the monitoring would miss say directly after the monitoring is undertaken on a particular day. Again in the Accord booklet there is nothing stating what days, what equipment, what date just that it is carried out once a month? So would this same monitoring equipment pick up any contaminants that entered a day after monitoring & then be unrecognizable before the next months report? This would allow contaminants & sewerage to flow in on days when equipment does not pick it up—correct?
4/. No doubt the Domain Board would know these questions in view of the fact they administer the surface waters of the lake or am I incorrect? You do not have to be responsible as you say, but you need to know or am I dumb?
5/. You say it is not your responsibility to consult with owners.  I am a farm and land owner and resident in the Horowhenua & the second largest individual owner in this Lake. Does that make a difference that easy questions cannot be answered at your meetings or is it that you have not undertaken the work or hold this information back from the public you are supposed to have on hand as a Board? It’s very easy to pass the buck to Horizons and everyone else. If this is the case then why are you; the Domain Board even a Board if you cannot have this information you are mean’t to have that affects the surface waters and the well being of our Lake.

 I must ask why are the so called Iwi reps x2 who have jobs for themselves incapable of giving this information to me as a concerned resident who knows that the only way to clean this toilet [Lake ] is by dredging the Lake bed, removing the sludge and restoring its rightful place just like you do your own toilet in your home each day. Surely the Chairman must know the 3 Iwi reps on your Board are also Lake Trustees with 2 having paid jobs: both in monitoring capacities Marakopa Matakatea on the Arawhata stream after the sewerage incident & Robert Warrington monitioring the Lake itself?  My questions may have been answered by them? But I see they were in the hard basket leaving Mayor Duffy to carry the day as per usually happens.

The costs of the resource consents and everything else to manicure a Lake is astounding yet will never get rid of the No1 problem of sludge on the Lake bed. Its amazing that one sees how an easy task can now lead to a Lake that will never come right.  Something that always appears in total denial yet I have mentioned it so many times as with others.

 I guess it allows use of Government money to give jobs to a privileged few yet nothing beneficial to us as owners who want a clean Lake to swim in. The interesting aspect of this is how many years will it actually take for the children in the Horowhenua be able to enjoy swimming in Lake Horowhenua? as already its well over 55 years that I have known it to be a Lake full of sludge.

The Lake Trustees do not respond owners nor provide media reports as I asked over 1 year ago.
Lake Trustees in all negotiations initiated as stated by Judge Harvey in the Maori Land Court sitting in Levin Nov 2014. Not to think he can do what he wants by himself for himself with hidden agendas and my feelings are take note of what Judge Harvey has emphasised? I hope he and the Domain Board remember to come back to us owners at a meeting of owners BEFORE it comes to how an additonal iwi rep will be initiated before voting a new Iwi rep to compliment the 3 members already on your Board which is now 7 months overdue.

Your attention to my concerns are now stated and please take your time to go over the questions I have asked and reply with diligent answers to my concerns. Please have the courtesy to table my letter at the next Domain Board meeting and respond to me in writing. My past  letters I have written have all gone unanswered so just to make sure I will send this letter to the Ministers of Conservation & Environment. I await in anticipation that one day we will have a clean Lake that I myself will never witness.
He aha te mia nui o te moana mutu--- he tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
Nga mihi

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
cc. Manatū Mō Te Taiao ---------- Dr Nick Smith ,    cc Winston Peters
cc Te Papa Atawhai------ Hon Maggie Barry

READ THE REPLY: by DOC Chairman Lester of the Domain Board who cannot even answer the questions. Well he has gone then another DOC rep Jenny came on board for a few meetings then she disappeared. Then there was a long break between the next meetings & now theres a new DOC Chairman.

Pay particular attention to 1a that he's not sure if the SEWERAGE LEAK WAS NEW OR OLD. Now if the fracture was at the end yet it appears it wasn't then this is a joke. THE RAW SEWERAGE WAS FRACURED BY A HIGGINS EXCAVATOR so perhaps the opeerator may have a different answer as he was too scared to tell Higgins at first????

[ History ] [ Wai 108 claim ] [ Office of Treaty Settlements ]

[ Lake Blame 2023 ] [ Lake news 2018 ] [ WECA Water & Environment group 2018 ] [ Drains,inlets and streams feeding the Lake 2018 ]

[ Arawhata flooding June 20th 2015 ] [ Listener Karl du Fresne Report Lake Aug 2014 ] [ Lake Trustees vote to remove Lake buildings? ] [ Sir Wira Gardiners shock report about MTA Nov 2013 ] [ Horowhenua Council Rating June 2014 ]

[ CFRT Crown Forestry Rental Trust] [ The money grab ] [ MCC- Muaupoko Cluster Group ] [ Horowhenua Lake 2013 ] [ ROLD Act ] [ Horowhenua Lake Trust ] [ OTS selling our Landbanked hospital & kimberley ] [ Lake Accord 2013 to NOT clean our Lake ] [ Lake Lobby Group 2013 to clean our Lake ] [ Horowhenua Council Polluters ] [ Lake Accord 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Cleaning the Lake area 2024 [ Livin in Levin decide to clean the domain ]

Please note some pages on this website are unlisted for public viewing. Info has been collated from oral conversations from kuia & kaumatua & text material we have accumulated over years. [ Info Indemnity ]