HOROWHENUA LAKE BOAT BAN INJUNCTION

THROWN OUT OF MLC, LEVIN Nov 2013

It was an action packed MLC sitting in the Queen St Chapel 11am 19th Nov, 2013 where Philip Taueki filed an injjunction to stop boats using the Lake but not all boats. It ended up he threatening to take the law into his own hands and lost his bid to block boats from using Lake Horowhenua.

Mr Taueki walked out of a Maori Land Court hearing in Levin as Judge Michael Doogan deliberated his interim injunction against boats that were not kept permanently at the lake and said there was no case. He also sought the removal of the Horowhenua Rowing Club from its building at the lake as basically they have no lease but as the injkunction was only for the boat ban the Judge passed.

"I'll stop every boat that goes on the lake and I'll kick those people out of that building," Mr Taueki said.

Mr Taueki has had altercations with lake users over the years and claims to have the right to use reasonable force to evict people who are not obeying bylaws.

That argument has been tested in front of the Supreme Court, with a ruling yet to be made.

Earlier in yesterday's 90-minute hearing, Mr Taueki argued such a ban was necessary because the lake was "at risk of irreversible damage" if any of three species of invasive aquatic weed reached it. In fact the [ Chisolm report ] sats that the Lake will FLIP which means it will reach the point of no return.

Mr Taueki said boats kept at the lake could still be used, provided they weren't used in any other waterways. A wash-down facility was needed. This had been recommended in a report two years ago by Niwa scientist Max Gibbs but no action had been taken. The call was repeated in a report by environmental consultant Bill Chisholm this month, sparking Mr Taueki's latest legal bid.

It was a privilege for members of the public to use the privately owned lake but if they did not have access to a wash-down facility, then they placed the lake at risk.

In response Roger Downey the lawyer acting for the Domain Board said this same case was presented by Judge Harvey back in 2010 and no solution was given but was repititious See A20090001234. Of course Doogan the presiding Judge had no knowledge on this. Downey wanted the case dismissed cause of the repetition; balance of convenience, and that the only new evidence was from Chisolm. The rowing club lawyer Ross Kerr said the rowing club always washed down boats after they were used in other waterways, before they were returned to Lake Horowhenua and in fact at all times rowers boats are OK as the main culprits would be boats coming in from other area on trailers.

Department of Conservation lawyer James Hardy said boating on the lake was a lawful activity and granting the injunction would result in ramifications to the community that would be disproportionate to the risks alleged by Mr Taueki. Not one lawyer spoke of the present situation of the Lake that it could FLIP any time and reach the point of no return. Mathew Sword spoke for the Lake Trust and Accord saying progress had been made and they are going for funding but the Judge never asked what are they doing specifically?

Only one public meeting has been held and apart from 1/. Royguard --for Horizons being paid to count the fish? & 2/. A David Brown working on monitoring the height of the Lake in the middle???

Judge Doogan ruled he did not have enough evidence, particularly scientific evidence, to grant the injunction. He said he would consider written evidence from the parties before deciding if a further hearing was required. So now the Lake just gets worse as the boats can all use the Lake and noone cares a hoot.

Some parts from the Manawatu Standard © Fairfax NZ News 20/11/13

IN SUMMARY:

The applicant was asked to produce further scientific evidence regarding this Lake issue which he could not present. Simple question? However if he had been more diplomatic and not berated the Judge he could have asked for more time. In essence packing a tantrum proves and motivates noone and this was a case that if one does not get his way, then to hell with it all and everyone concerned. Unfortunately this was the case seen here. This is a wrong attitude to take and the supposed $1000 filing fee down the tube all because of the behaviour? A Judge is not going to be swayed by someone who throws tantrims and consistantly out of order as he must deliver his judgement based on the facts asked for and produced to the Court. So in this case if the applicant had of used diplomacy then things may have been a little different but it was not to be as was shown in the manner of the applicant this day.

However since this case the Judge has managed to get parties together at a conference. More as it unfolds as it is a problem of boats as can be seen by Horizons trailer in December 2013 at the Lake.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Consultant ecologist Bill Chisholm recommending a complete ban on allowing trailer-mounted boats of any type from entering the lake, unless they were confined to Lake Horowhenua itself. “While this may seem draconian, boaties need to be reminded that if these aquatic weeds enter the lake, then there will probably be no boating at all in the future because the weed mats will make boating physically impossible.”

“I understand  that the lake is not used by motor boats”, he says: “This is probably the main reason why these three lakeweeds are not yet present, because these weeds can easily hitch a ride on motor boat trailers and outboard propellers.”

The three invasive weed species he identified that could find their way into Lake Horowhenua are egreria, hornwort and lagarosiphon.

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.

Meanwhile, Lake Horowhenua is infested with purple loosestrife, which is classified as amongst the worst semi-aquatic weeds in the world. Horizons manager Craig Mitchell has claimed he is unsure how the plant got into Lake Horowhenua. Horizons was a no-show at the Maori Land Court hearing last month. The Bio-Security Act 1993 expects regional councils to provide leadership in promoting public support for preventing, reducing or eliminating adverse effects from harmful organisms in their region.

Note the noxious weed on the Horizons trailer in Dec 2013. Will this lake FLIP & die ???????????? Hprizons never showed up at the MLC. Wonder why after seeing these pictures yet this dept does nothing. Royguard is counting the fish only-- yet this Lake is ready to flip & the Accord are after funding for pet projects jusat like some of the Lake Trustees esp those who have been there for awhile who are still looking after their back pocket.

Figure 2-18:Weed can be transported between lakes on boat trailers. Homwort and filamentous
algae festoon a boat trailer at Lake Rotoehu. Even a small piece of Homwort will grow if left on the
trailer when it launches the boat in the next lake.

The "danger" to the lake from the introduction of exotic weeds such as Egeria dense and/or
hornwort is that they have "aggressive" growth habits which would irreversibly change the
water quality and character of Lake Horowhenua. Egeria dense has a boom and bust growth
cycle, such that it spreads across the lake as a surface-to-sediment biomass, dramatically
reducing the open water available for contact recreation. The biomass in the lake becomes
dominated by weed. At this time (boom phase) the open water will be relatively clear as the
Egeria has assimilated all of the nutrient inputs from the catchment and sediment release,
and suppressed sediment suspension by wave action. The bust phase sees the weed beds
collapse and release the stored nutrients as they decompose driving a massive algal bloom.
The decomposing weed causes oxygen depletion which, in turn causes sediment release of
nutrients, especially phosphorus, which favours the growth of toxic cyanobacteria blooms.
The shading caused by the algae inhibit the growth of weed and the lake becomes algal
(phytoplankton) dominated, such that the water column always has a high algal content and
there is no weed to reduce sediment suspension by wave induced currents. If fragments of
the Egeria survive, the cycle will repeat. The classic example of the effect of this weed is
Lake Omapere.

The blame is on all Maori not thinking and getting their act together. Too much bickering and nothing being achieved. Disgraceful.

All are too blame

[ READ the CHISOLM REPORT ] [ Council want to repollute the Lake Sept 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 ] WASTEWATER DISPOSAL A CONCERN [ Shannon wastewater ]