A tiny Southland community fear their houses will be swept into the sea and are laying the blame at the operator of the country’s biggest hydro-power station.
The small hamlet at the mouth of the Waiau River at Te Waewae Bay — numbering 17 houses — has ongoing erosion problems as the spit which protects it is fading away.
Part of a road has already washed into the sea and residents fear their houses are next.
They can not get insurance, no-one wants to buy their houses and Meridian Energy denies its power station is causing the problem.
The property owners met Southland District Council Mayor Rob Scott as well as representatives from Environment Southland (ES) and Meridian Energy on Monday in Tuatapere.
Bluecliffs Beach Rd resident Chris Wood, 69, said the lack of gravel flowing down the river was a direct result of the Manapōuri Power scheme.
"Since the Manapōuri Power Scheme was commissioned in 1969, there’s been virtually no gravel flow come down the river to the Waiau mouth here to replenish what the sea continually grinds up.
Mr Wood said he started the process of trying to sell his house before there was a threat to the properties but had to withdraw from auction because the interested parties backed away.
"I had five interested parties in bidding and they all pulled out because of the likelihood that these places are going to fall into the f...... sea."
Mr Wood said he had lived on Bluecliffs Beach Rd for 30 years and the area had been his playground all his life.
Seven of the owners lived there full-time and none of them had sufficient funds to move on, he said.
"We haven’t got that sort of money. I’m an old pensioner and I’m buggered if my house falls into the thing.
"I’m left in the caravan and that’s it."
No-one had paid attention to the residents and it was like "bashing our heads against a brick wall", he said.
He said protection for houses was put in at Colac Bay.
"We have 17 houses here. Why can’t they do the same for us?"
Mr Wood said the only way he would get any form of compensation was to petition the government to get a buy-out.
Mr Scott said there was not a simple solution to the problem and all of the stakeholders including ES, Meridian and the Department of Conservation (Doc) needed to be involved.
Some of the options discussed at Monday’s meeting included widening the mouth, managed retreat and rock protection, Mr Scott said.
He said the funding conversation was going to be difficult because different parties had different responsibilities.
"There’s infrastructure there that we’re looking after ... then you’re getting into that coastal area which is kind of Environment Southland’s responsibility.
"But ultimately to me both organisations have the same ratepayers and ... in the interest of the ratepayers we’ve got to work together with all the organisations and come come up with a solution that’s going to work."
He said undue pressure could not be put on Meridian because it could just be Mother Nature running its course.
It was a naturally occurring coastal process just like others seen on countless places across New Zealand.
"The ongoing impact of climate change will mean more examples like this, making it critical that we continue to decarbonise by increasing the amount of renewable energy we use within Aotearoa and globally," Mr Waipara said.
Longstanding monitoring programmes operated by Meridian Energy showed the Waiau River was delivering sediment to the mouth in an unconstrained way.
Meridian would work with the council to provide any scientific data from its extensive monitoring of the Waiau River over many years, Mr Waipara said.
ES integrated catchment management general manager Paul Hulse said ES had carried out a detailed site investigation of the historic landfill area and was assessing the findings.
Doc operations manager John McCarroll said Doc’s invitation to Monday’s meeting arrived late and a representative was unable to attend.
Mr McCarroll said a Doc representative would be at the next meeting.
