September 22, 2022
Rotorua reverses puna grab
A Te Arawa hapū has signed an agreement with Rotorua Lakes District Council to reverse a 70-year old grab of its water.
Under the agreement signed on Saturday, the council will return to Ngāti Kearoa-Ngāti Tuara the land around the Karamu Takina springs, which supply the bulk of the city’s drinking water, and they will manage it in partnership.
Hapu chair Robyn Bargh says about 14 acres was taken under the Public Works Act in the 1950s and 60s by the Rotorua Borough Council, but the current council agreed it – or the future Three Waters entity – does not need to own the land to secure supply.
She says Ngāti Kearoa-Ngāti Tuara is looking at the inter-generational nature of the deal.
“We have to set up a working group brining in our young people because this is going to go for some time, this is not something we’re going to do in a month or two and then that’s it. There is an ongoing role for the iwi to play in the management of the water,” she says.
The council also agreed to return land in and around the Tarewa tennis courts, and to refund $125,000 in water rates charged between 2002 and 2014 in breach of the sale conditions.