Latest news with #Dargaville
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Northland's 'particularly vicious' drought continues to bite
So far this year Northland has been battered by record-breaking rain, a cyclone and even a tornado. But the region's also had to contend with a drought, and nowhere was that more keenly felt than in Dargaville. So what's being done to fix the area's long-running water woes? There is frustration on the streets of Dargaville. The nation's kumara capital - and the biggest town in the west of the Kaipara District - has been subject to summer water restrictions longer than most folk can remember. Andy Bryenton does not mince his words about last summer's drought. "It was particularly vicious. It really hit the farmers hard. I mean, those guys are prepared for this kind of thing, but it was more extreme than anyone anticipated." In town, frustration centred on water restrictions that started before Christmas and only lifted in April. "There were certainly a lot of angry people saying we need an end to those water restrictions." That was followed by a pipe break that saw much of the town without water during King's Birthday weekend. Bryenton says planning needed to happen sooner, by both local and central government. "It's unmistakable now that the weather's changing, the seasons are changing, and if we're going to get more droughts like that, then we need to look ahead." Dargaville Ratepayers and Residents Association chairwoman Rose Dixon says the almost annual water restrictions make it hard for locals to beat the cost-of-living crisis by growing their own vegetables at home. It also means her kids miss out on summer fun. "Every summer they've gone without that quintessential Kiwi summer where you get to pull out the water slide, pull out the sprinklers and have fun in the backyard. It's a bit sad to think they've missed out on those opportunities I had growing up," she says. Ruawai dairy farmer Greg Gent says Kaipara farmers need to be prepared for the district's weather extremes. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf Figures from the Northland Regional Council show the Dargaville area received just 20 percent of its usual summer rain - and that is in a place that is pretty dry even in a normal summer. Iwi leader Snow Tane, who heads the Dargaville-based Te Roroa Development Group, says the drought dented farmers' incomes and forced them to use feed set aside for winter. It also forced rural residents, many of whom are already struggling to pay their bills, to spend hundreds of dollars at a time filling their rainwater tanks. "The biggest problem that Dargaville had is they had to conserve water. And because they had to conserve water, they couldn't do a lot of things that they would do normally. And so what we saw was, for months on end, we were under some of the strictest water restrictions in the country." Tane says preparing for - and adapting to - the changing climate is vital. "If you look at all the predictions from the likes of Niwa, dry conditions are going to get worse. So it's important that we know what the projections are, and we should be working towards building resilience and infrastructure in townships like Dargaville." That could include, for example, making it easier for people in town to install rainwater tanks, so they could supplement the council's water supply themselves. Dairy farmer Greg Gent owns about 200ha at Ruawai, south of Dargaville, with his daughter and son-in-law. He says last summer's drought was one of the toughest he has experienced. "We've had them before, but it got very dry. We're probably down about $100,000 in income off this farm. And then on top of that, costs were up because we had to bring in more supplementary feed. That was probably another $100,000. "On the plus side we had a brilliant spring, probably one of the best springs ever. So we had a lot of grass silage, that helped a lot." Gent says drought has always been part of farming life in the Kaipara, affecting about two years out of every seven. It is too soon to be sure if droughts are getting worse, he says. "When you go farming, that's part of the package, you sign up for variability in weather. It does at times make it very trying and very hard for those getting started." However, Gent says farms are businesses and do not expect government handouts. What he does expect from the government is good science around climate adaptability, something he says has slipped in recent years. Risk planning is key to getting through whatever nature has in store, he says. "Just making sure you've got enough supplementary feed on hand so if you hit a dry period, you can farm your way through it, and obviously keeping your costs down. So if you've got to dry the cows off early, you know you can still be profitable." Once full, Te Waihekeora Reservoir, at Redhill, south of Dargaville, will hold 3.3 million cubic metres of water. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro Dargaville's water woes could, however, be coming to an end. In the hills near Glinks Gully, about 20km south of town, an artificial lake is slowly filling with 3.3 million cubic metres of water. Te Waihekeora Reservoir is being built by the Te Tai Tokerau Water Trust with a multi-million-dollar loan from what used to be called the Provincial Growth Fund. Trust chairman Murray McCully, a foreign minister under the John Key government, says the water is pumped up 80 metres from four drains feeding into the Northern Wairoa River. Water is taken when stream levels are high, and in summer it will be gravity-fed to where it's needed. McCully says the Dargaville area does not have a shortage of water - it is just that it all comes in winter, and it has not been stored for the dry summer months. Te Tai Tokerau Water Trust chairman Murray McCully at the newly completed Te Waihekeora Reservoir south of Dargaville. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro "For the township, it's been a complete train wreck. You routinely have water restrictions in Dargaville starting late October, early November, and it restricts economic activity as well as social activity across the district." McCully says the lack of water is also a handbrake on the town's biggest employer, Silver Fern Farms' meat processing plant, which often has to cut production at its busiest time of year. "And if you look at the hills around here, they brown out pretty quickly over summer. If you want to get an uplift in production in this area, stored water for cropping, market gardening, horticulture, that's where the future of this place is going to be." By 2027 McCully says a $17.5 million pipeline will allow 1100ha of river flats south of Dargaville to be irrigated and put to more intensive use. Avocado orchards, planted by local iwi Te Uri o Hau and Lynwood Nurseries, one of the country's biggest producers of avocado seedlings, are already springing up around the reservoir. Another pipeline, to be built and paid for by the Kaipara District Council, should mean an end to Dargaville's summer water restrictions. The trust has finished building another dam near Kaikohe in the Far North, and is working on an even bigger one near Waimate North, midway between Kaikohe and Kerikeri. Te Tai Tokerau Water Trust chairman Murray McCully surveys the newly completed Te Waihekeora Reservoir south of Dargaville. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf McCully says an irrigation scheme built in Kerikeri in the 1980s transformed that town's economy. "Northland, particularly the western side of Northland, is usually in the news for the wrong reasons. It's at the wrong end of most social and economic statistics. And I know that Shane Jones [then Regional Economic Development Minister] wanted to make sure the western side of Northland was given the same opportunity that Kerikeri got many years ago," he says. "There's no reason why western parts of Northland can't enjoy exactly the same benefits. They've got great climates. They've got great soil. They just need water. And that's what we're trying to do." And on top of that, a few summers from now, Dargaville kids may finally be able to while away hot afternoons playing on water slides in the backyard - just like kids anywhere else in New Zealand. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Wagging, fights common at Dargaville High School, parents say as commissioner appointed
Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi Aliases have been used in this story to ensure any current students remain anonymous. A commissioner will be appointed to run Northland's Dargaville High School after a damning assessment by the Education Review Office (ERO) found fewer than half of its students are regularly attending school, with the same number failing NCEA level one. The ERO report also highlights a serious need for school systems that ensure students are physically and emotionally safe. Parents RNZ spoke to weren't surprised by the dismal evaluation - they claimed wagging, fights and mismanagement were all the norm. Rachel, not her real name, has two children at Dargaville High School, but she won't be sending her youngest there, she said. The biggest problem she highlighted was attendance. Once she had to drive one of her children back to school after finding them at home hours early, she said. "It was just really - it felt like a very surreal situation because I never had to do this before. I know kids can bunk but the fact that there was quite a large number of them leaving the premises and no one was stopping them was really concerning," she said. Another Dargaville High parent who did not want to be named told RNZ her children has told her that serious fights broke out roughly twice a month. Sandra, not her real name, is the parent of a former Dargaville High student who left in 2023. She said problems at the school were not new. Her son expressed concern to a teacher about the safety of staff on his final day at school. "[He] said to his dean on his last day of school: 'You know, I don't know how for the small amount of money you get paid each year, you feel safe around these students'. Like he felt like the teachers' lives were always in danger." When Sandra's son was at the school, she said some students were asked to only attend on a part-time basis, and on the days, they weren't in class, they were expected to do their own 'self-led' learning at home. Parents were never provided with a clear explanation about the directive, she said. "When you confronted them about the problem or why my student wasn't able to attend a full week's work, it felt like you got beaten around the bush. You weren't given a straight answer, that's just how it is, we're working on making something more accessible. You were made to feel like your student wasn't worth educating." One of ERO's reports found multiple breaches of the 2014 Children's Act, including that the board failed to put all its staff through adequate safety checks, such as police vetting, nor ensuring its teachers were licensed. "I don't have a lot of confidence in the school leadership. I think the board should have been and the principal should have been on top of this a while back, and the fact that it's got to this point is quite disappointing," Rachel said. A statement from the school's board of trustees said it fully supported the decision to appoint a commissioner, calling it the best way forward for the future of the school. A request to interview principal Michael Houghton was also responded to by the board, saying he was on leave. Acting principal Vern Stevens said he has been covering the role for seven weeks, however, he also declined an interview. He told RNZ Houghton was due to be back at the beginning of term three, midway through July, but will leave as principal at the end of the year.
RNZ News
6 days ago
- RNZ News
One dead following Dargaville crash
Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon Police say one person has died, after a serious crash Saturday evening in Dargaville. About 5.20pm, police said they were notified of a single-vehicle crash on Jervois Street. Despite best efforts from emergency services, one person died at the scene. A scene examination is finished and the road has re-opened. While enquiries into the crash are ongoing, initial indications suggested this was a suspected medical event and the death would be referred to the coroner. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
08-06-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Firefighters battle Northland house fire
Ten fire trucks and eight brigades fought the blaze at its peak (file pic). Photo: RNZ / Rob Dixon Nearly 30 firefighters were called to a large house fire in a small town south of Dargaville in the early hours of Monday morning. Fire and Emergency said they were called to Aratapu about 2.30am. Ten fire trucks and eight brigades fought the blaze at its peak. The fire has since been extinguished, but eight trucks are still at the scene to monitor hotspots. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
03-06-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Water finally restored in Dargaville
Many homes and businesses in the Northland town of Dargaville went without running water during King's Birthday weekend. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf Water has finally been fully restored in Dargaville after a massive outage caused by four separate pipeline ruptures last week. Friday's breakages in the 40-kilometre water supply pipeline all but emptied the town's water reservoir and left most homes without running water or under tight restrictions. Kaipara District Council said water was restored to the last homes on upper Hokianga Road, late on Sunday afternoon. However, a resident living just off Hokianga Road told RNZ her taps only started flowing again on Monday night, an outage of almost four days. The council had to scramble to set up water tankers and portaloos around town during the King's Birthday long weekend, while contractors brought in extra staff from Whangārei and Auckland to fix the pipe. In an update posted late on Sunday, the council said tap water in some parts of town was still discoloured, but it had been treated and was safe to drink. The discolouration was caused by sediment being stirred up as the tanks were refilled. A council spokesperson urged Dargaville residents to continue using water conservatively while levels recovered. As of Sunday evening, the reservoir was about 25 percent full. The delay in reinstating water to the upper Hokianga Road area - including Panorama Place, Cobham Avenue and Mountview Place - was due to problems with the booster pumps, the council said.
