HOROWHENUA"s LAKE ACCORD CLEANUP 2020

still a mess as Lake Trustees pilfered funds &

now what will happen to this lot

Only certain Muaupoko are invited??? No council of elders

HOROWHENUA"s LAKE ACCORD CLEANUP 2013- 2018

THE DISGUISED LAKE ACCORD PROCESS

The start 2013: With the Council now seeking an Accord to clean up the Lake local Iwi have now banded together to form a community team to assist in the clean up with Pare Raukawa whose lands & rights are affected on the Hokio Stream, the land & the Lake. Some members of the Lake Trust tried to pass the Accord and have it signed yet they have never told the land owners of any accord????. These Lake Trustees are attempting to do the same again yet will not seek direction from the a meeting of owners in the Lake nor answer questions ---why? The Mayor wanted a quick signing to take place so he can access funding but theres no plan in this Accord from start to finish. He also realiuzed he needed to fix a problem before he got the blame for recompense to clean out the Lake? The local Levin Chronicle will not publish certain articles telling the true story of the Lake by we are told 8 people and & get other views as they must abide by Council it seems? Is it dog eat dog or is it small town mentality syndrome of keep affairs to oneself? Trustees voted the Chairman Eugene Henare to kick an owner out of 2 buildings on the pretext of removing the owners buildings yet never bothered to do anything with the rowing club and others on unleased property in the Domain.

Henare took the bait & forced the person out?? literally. The Lake Trust held another meeting to sack the Chairman after losing face and have the Accord signed on a special Sunday meeting held at Thompson House 10am Levin where they did sack the Chairman led by the new chairman Matt Sword [ a non owner in the Lake] . The sacking was justified for what Eugene did and the way he carried out the procedure of evicting an owner. But, the other lessee also have no leases yet nothing has been directed at them by the same Lake Trust. In the meantime the real Lake problems are sidelined by this Trust. This meeting was also attended by some concerned Lake owners.

Four of these Trustees are not even owners in the Horowhenua 11 Lake yet can vote for us as they want even the Accord they know nothing about: eg Chairman Matt Sword, Jon Proctor, Kelly Tahiwi and Kerry Hori te Pa the secretary? This is not right as how would you who own land like to be dictated by a non owner in land in NZ. As you read this injustice is still apparent today 2013 in NZ.

Five groups have been invited to take part in the Lake Horowhenua Accord but this needs to be extended as even the majority of over 1511 owners have no say, nor allowed to voice their opinions and it is their land. The 5 have a different role in the lake's management yet there has been no indication of the management structure; the monetary fund & the planned clean up so why sign.

But first of all to start any cleanup the contamination must be stopped entering the Lake and those taken to task like this Council who polluted the Lake & still do nothing.

Larry.N.Mitchell. Finance & Policy Analyst. (Local Government). Larry produces this league table for the 67 local authorities in NZ. It measures economic sustainability and affordability but check it out and you will get a shock at what Horowhenua District Council is doing & now wants to spew more sewerage waste in Shannon but not on their $4m farm they just bought- June 2013??. Click here to download the 2nd to worst District Council in NZ---yes Horowhenua District Council [OPEN pdf: ] Larry Mitchell exposed the District Councils blatent spending spree at Cambridge / Montgomery St Levin Hall 7th July to a packed audience of Levin ratepayers .

Lake Horowhenua Trust: The elected representatives of lake's owners although many owners and we say at least 1200 owners are not even informed or know about this. But as at June 2013 the Lake Trustees seem not to be sure what theyre doing as they are in Court over the 2 buildings at the Lake where the then Chairman lost his seat afterwards. The lake, along with a 20 metre strip around its edge, is owned by the owners, the majority of which are of the Mauapoko iwi. The Lake Trust do not abide by the Trust order & rarely call a meeting of owners.

Horizons Regional Council:

The environmental regulatory grants consents for stormwater and wastewater disposal. Horizons also carries out water quality monitoring and weed spraying at the lake. HOWEVER they are not monitoring the inlets to the Lake the most important first task. This should have been done years ago & May 2018 no signs are up. Leaching into the Lake goes unabated from stormwater to leaching from a kawiu Rd horticulture blocks via homes in Barry Curtis Drive, behind Lakewood Grove then 188 Queen St to the Domain and Lake. Nothing has been done by council or Horizons as at May 2018. No signs on any inlets. The Accord is wasting money.

Horowhenua District Council: local authority is responsible for bylaws that govern the lake,and suposedly keep clean yet they have done little in fact nothing to relieve the problems of the Lake and should not lead any Accord due to their neglect over 62 years. The local Horowhenua District Council Annual Draft Plan for 2013-2014 expenditure. In fact nothing is being spent by the Council-- why?? could it be funding money they are after now? In the meantime they want to continue releasing sewerage waste into our waterways in Shannon. Blame can not be put on Mayor Duffy as without the likes of Horizons etc, Nathan Guy, DOC these are the ones who must share repsonsibility.

Department of Conservation: DOC is responsible for the flora and fauna at the lake but as we have seen thats all thats been done on the Lake. They have re-established native species with Iwi reps on the payroll in and around the lake and the control of pest species.

Lake Horowhenua Domain Board: With representatives of Horowhenua District Council, DOC and the lake trustees, this board manages the lake waters only and the use of the buildings? yet tend to talk about solving issues but has never implemented the clean up process. 2018 Jenny Rowan the new Chair person is perhaps the most switched on Chair person DOC has produced & sees the problem.

We identify 5 parties that need to have involvement in any Accord and this will be disclosed soon?? yet no mention by the Council nor the Maori Iwi Reps on the Domain Board about any such involvement yet they want an Accord signed that the owners have not seen with no plan of attack nor start/finish time. The Council has set in speech 15-25 years to clean a Lake up that us owners want cleaned in 2 years? and it can be achieved as we have formulated a plan using international experts. The Government has allocated funding that the council want to use up slowly yet the problem is the sludge on the bottom of the Lake and us owners want it removed. However the Council can drag this out to eventually the onus of them as the culprits can be allayed yet they need to be taken to task now. We also have a majority of defunct Lake Trustees who do not work as a team or for us owners and this also needs to be addressed as the Injunction is intending--June 2013.

2018: The Lake can be dredged properly using suction equipment & the sediment can go to the new motorway. If not there will be no place for it to go ever if not started now.

MLC: HOROWHENUA LAKE 11 BLOCK- APPLICATION FOR URGENT INJUNCTION: SECTION 19/93

On May 14th 2013 interested parties received a copy of an Accord Draft Plan made up by one Kevin Hill? we were told. No Accord Plan has been seen before and this Draft was given by the Maori Land Court not by the Lake Trust? Those who received this in the mail were directed to comment to the Court by 24th May 2013. REMEMBER no owners have ever seen nor read this Accord Draft nor commented on yet the Council have wanted to sign an Accord for the last 3 months as do the Lake Trust??? again we repeat not one affected owner has been given this copy apart from the Lake Trust and MLC until now & no meeting of owners by this Trust has been forthcoming?. The Maori Land Court who also just received a copy sent it out to us for comment to the Court.

Click here to download the Accord Draft Plan [OPEN pdf: ] as at 14th May 2013 & read where they have allocated expenditure & plan A-Z on the removal of the sludge-------if you can find it??

THE SECRET Item 10 nutrients entering the Lake? ACCORD MEETING WITH COUNCIL

In spite of the directive by the Maori Land Court for submissions on this Accord Draft -----On the morning of Thursday 30th May 2013 the Horowhenua District Council deliberated a meeting of the Lake Trustees and Horizons on the Accord at 7.30am. This meeting was not advertised nor any other owners involved at the early morning meeting. The discussion was intended we believe to get consensus on an Accord that we as owners have no input and still have zero input. Considering those non owners on this Trust x4 could vote in favour on the Accord if it was a majority vote the "take" was undertaken not to sign due to the owners again not being consulted AND THANKS TO SOME attendees who are for us owners not themselves. The strange thing is why was it convened at 7.30am on this day but the worst was some of the signees did not even know the provisions of this Accord Draft nor questioned how many years to clean our Lake up. With this in mind we can see what some of these Trustees are up to yet have no idea that our Lake is going to brought back to original in never never day??? Matt Sword it seems wanting to be a spokesperson for the group yet IS NOT AN OWNER IN THE LAKE. The Horowhenua District Council need to taken to task--they polluted it they must pay for the restoration as Horowhenua Lake is a giant toilet---they do not want to press the button--in this case take priority in cleaning out the sludge they put in. Well lets see????? to be continued.

Pare Raukawa Meeting with Horizons same day: Thursday 30th May 2013

The Lobby group of Muaupoko and Pare Raukawa met with Horizons this same day yet were not notified by the Lake Trust of their intentions of this council meeting the same day?? Why not or is it that some Trust members wanted the Accord signed with the Council so they can get work for themselves and stretch whatever this accord entails as nothing from 1-10 has been explained from priority to least priority on the work needed nor any completion dates. This Group is a joint group of owners and affected tribal affiliates on the land, stream & Lake that affects us all. It is ironic that still the Lake Trust meet in these circumstances yet still do not forward a date to meet with the owners. Yet they keep on saying we must meet with the owners yet never do. The Lake Lobby however needs to make sure the Public groups are included and does not becaome a secular lobby for a few?

COUNCIL MEETING WEDNESDAY 5TH JUNE 2013:

The Open agenda meeting at the council the Accord was raised but as no signing has been made little was talked about. However representatives from the Lobby group of Muaupoko and Pare Raukawa were there to gain insight which is good. It is a shame not many owners attend meetings to listen nor participate as it is and one can ask for speaking rights. You can acess this on Page 115 -119 on the Council website or this link: [ 5th June Agenda & Minutes ]

DOMAIN BOARD MEETING MONDAY 10TH JUNE 10AM 2013:

The Domain Board meetings at the council are held every 2 months so again one can ask for speaking rights to talk for 5 minutes. You will note reading previous meeting that the Maori reps have virtually no input in removing the sludge and more interested in their own personal agendas. They neither give input on any logical statements for us owners nor ever meet with us owners. You can also see the draft plan then ask yourself why these Iwi reps do not action plan the draft & secretly hold meetings. You can access these meetings but its a shame as the only people in the public gallery that turn up to these meetings are the same at each meeting. But for all you overseas owners here is the link & if you wish to write to us please go to our indemnity below [ Domain Board Agenda & Minutes ]

THE PROBLEM: PLAN CLEANUP

The problem is the toxic sediment on the bottom of the Lake that must be removed and the following is how this can be achieved according to the budget provided. Over the decades, heavy metals and toxic organic chemicals--both municipal and industrial wastes and herbicides and pesticides from farm runoff--have mixed with the particles of rock, soil, and decomposing items in the Lake. Little attention has been paid to the toxics hiding in the mud on the bottom by the Council polluters & Lake Trust agree--well no all the Trustees. The obvious first priority was stopping the discharge of new contaminants then dredge the Lake.

COSTS:

Will the required budget be enough to dredge the whole lake with those responsible eg. Council, Horizons DOC, Govt grants budgeting the cleanup as nothing has been mentioned? Would dredging the hot spots first be the better solution to start, then rechecked thus working within the required budget? Where to start first and end, noting the main inlets and outlet being the Hokio Stream.

This whole process could be accomplished using owners and overseen by the necessary authorities. It would also be a workable business for the owners to accomplish the same in other contaminated parts of NEW Zealand as we have a duty to our tipuna. This is another reason why us owners need to play a role in the Accord process and not be left out. Check the Lake Lobby newly formed group.

It has been 62 years that Horowhenua Lake has had sediment, sewerage and contaminants from dairy & horticulture in this Lake ? The Lake is choked with weed, sediment and manures from horticulture and dairy farm run offs account for 50% of the water runoff and this Lake is No 107 of a total 114 most contaminated Lakes in NZ by the Ministry of the Environment. Once rich in food sources from mussels to kakahi it has now been reduced to a contaminated mess.

Horizons have studied the fish species in the Lake but this is not the problem. The problem is the Lake is a giant toilet that someone forgot to flush. The Council do not care as they can spend all sorts on removing the weed etc which will do nothing. The real problem is to remove the sludge which is easy but even Max Gibbs the NIWA analyst could not even mention as the number 1 & 2 priority after Monitoring of the inlets to prevent any more toxic sediment turpidity entering. To us its a rush job of who can get the work and blow it out to 25 years??? and then maybe never.

[ Lake Accord May 2018 ] [ Lake Accord April 2014 ] [ Lake Accord 2015 harvest machine ] [ MTA Board & Tuia ] [ Council want to repollute the Lake Sept 2013 ] [ Lake Accord Council update to repollute using Queen St Drain ] [ MLC Injunction on boat ban Nov 19th 2013 ] [ Lake Accord June 2013 continued [ Larry Mitchell & the Council ] [ ROLD submission ] [ Horowhenua Lake History ] [ 1 2 More Horowhenua Lake Court ] [ Fairfax Report:22/3/2013 Lake ] [ Lake Domain Board ][ Lake Lobby Group ] [ 2023 BLAME ] WASTEWATER DISPOSAL A CONCERN [ Shannon wastewater ]