ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 01.07.11 // 30.06.12 matters directly withinterested parties. is happyto provide furtherdetails ortechnical reports ordiscuss this information, rather to provide asummaryofit.GenesisEnergy above, itisnotthe intention ofthisreport to reproduce orreplicate initiatives andagreements thathave fed into thisreport. Asstated number oftechnical reports, research programmes, environmental The report alsoprovides asummaryofkey result areas. There are a the operating period1July 2011to 30June2012. information inanyway,rather itsummarisesthekey outcomes for It isnottheintention ofthisreport to reproduce orreplicate this complicated, withavast amountoftechnical information collected. The process to renew resource consents waslengthy and ongoing operation oftheTongariro Power Scheme. developed through theprocess to renew resource consents for the This report provides asummaryofkey environmental outcomes 12

HIGHLIGHTS 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012 02 01 INTRODUCTION 02 1.1 Document Overview Rotoaira Tuna Wananga Genesis Energy was approached by 02 1.2 Resource Consents Process Overview members of Ngati Hikairo ki Tongariro during the reporting period 02 1.3 How to use this document with a proposal to the stranding of tuna (eels) at the Wairehu Drum 02 1.4 Genesis Energy’s Approach Screens at the outlet to Lake Otamangakau. A tuna wananga was to Environmental Management held at Otukou Marae in May 2012 to discuss the wider issues of tuna 02 1.4.1 Genesis Energy’s Values 03 1.4.2 Environmental Management System management and to develop skills in-house to undertake a monitoring 03 1.4.3 Resource Consents Management System and management programme (see Section 6.1.3 for details). 03 1.4.4 Hydrology Transformer upgrade Between January and July 2012, all the 03 1.5 Feedback original 40 year old transformers connecting Tokaanu Power Station 04 02 TONGARIRO POWER SCHEME to the National Grid were replaced with larger units of 70 MVA 05 2.1 Operating the Tongariro Power Scheme rating. This project included the upgrade and enlargement of the oil 05 2.2 Climate and Power Generation interception system and replacement of the cables connecting the 06 03 EASTERN DIVERSION generators to the transformers (see Section 7.5 for details). 07 3.1 Wahianoa Aqueduct 07 3.1.1 Hydrology Whio Forever Genesis Energy entered into a five year $2.5 million 07 3.1.2 Aquatic Ecosystems and Water Quality National Whio Investment Agreement with the Department of 07 3.1.3 Ngati Rangi Conservation during the reporting period. The agreement was 08 3.1.4 Mangaio Power Station launched at the Tongariro National Trout Centre on 1 March as part 08 3.2 Lake of Whio Awareness Month with dignitaries and representatives from 08 3.2.1 Hydrology a wide range of organisations. The funding will help secure whio 08 3.2.2 Sediment (Erosion, Transport and Deposition) across and will increase public awareness about whio. 09 3.3 A third Whio Family Day was also successfully held at the Trout 09 3.3.1 Hydrology Centre in March (see Section 8.1 for details). 12 3.3.2 Aquatic Ecosystems and Water Quality 13 3.3.3 Natural Character and Amenity Issues Weed cordon at Lake Otamangakau In September 2011, a 13 3.3.4 Recreation/Tourism multi-agency biosecurity collaboration between the Department 14 3.3.5 Ngati Whitikaupeka, Ngati Tamakopiri and Ngati Hauiti of Conservation, Manawatu Wanganui Regional Council, Bay of 14 3.3.6 Moawhango Community Plenty Regional Council (BoPRC) and Genesis Energy resulted 15 04 in the establishment of an aquatic weed cordon around the Lake 16 4.1 Hydrology Otamangakau boat ramp. The weed cordon, developed by BoPRC, 18 4.2 Aquatic Ecosystems and Water Quality is designed to catch fragments of aquatic weeds that might hitch a 20 4.3 Sediment (Erosion, Transport and Deposition) ride on boats or trailers, preventing new weed pests like hornwort 20 4.4 Recreation and Tourism establishing in the lake. The weed cordon is part of a larger aquatic 22 05 WESTERN DIVERSION biosecurity push in the region (see Section 8.5 for details). 24 5.1 Hydrology 25 5.2 Aquatic Ecosystems and Water Quality 25 5.2.1 Western Diversion Monitoring Plan ABBREVIATIONS 27 5.2.2 Trout AER Annual Environmental Report 27 5.2.3 River Enhancement Trust BoPRC Bay of Plenty Regional Council 28 5.3 Recreation and Tourism CDMP Construction Debris Management Plan 28 5.3.1 Recreational Releases CSR Comprehensive Safety Review 28 5.3.2 Recreational Initiatives DOC Department of Conservation 29 5.3.3 Whanganui Iwi ECNZ Electricity Corporation of New Zealand 30 06 / EMS Environmental Management System EPT 31 6.1 Lake Rotoaira Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (the three insect orders commonly used to test water quality) 31 6.1.1 Hydrology ERLAWS Eastern Ruapehu Lahar Alarm and Warning System 31 6.1.2 Aquatic Ecosystems and Water Quality GWh Gigawatt hour 31 6.1.3 Tuna Management IBI Index of Biological Integrity 32 6.1.4 Lake Rotoaira Trust masl meters above sea level – Moturiki Datum 32 6.1.5 Rotoaira Channel Sediment Disposal Site MAF Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 32 6.2 Tokaanu Stream MCI Macro-invertebrate Community Index 33 6.3 Tokaanu Tailrace and Lake Taupo MfE Ministry for the Environment 33 6.3.1 Hydrology MVA Megavolt Ampere 33 6.3.2 Aquatic Ecosystems and Water Quality MW Megawatt MWRC Manawatu Wanganui Regional Council 34 07 SCHEME-WIDE OUTCOMES NIWA National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research 35 7.1 Ngati Tuwharetoa - Genesis Energy Committee NZDF New Zealand Defence Force 36 7.2 Central Blue Duck Conservation Trust OPC Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre 36 7.3 Publicly Available Hydrology Information QMCI Quantitative Macro-invertebrate Community Index 36 7.4 Volcanic Activity Management Plan (VAMP) RCMS Resource Consent Management System 37 7.5 Maintenance Activities RDC Council 39 7.6 Run-off Management Plan RMA Resource Management Act (1991) 39 7.7 Dam Safety SHMAK Stream Health Monitoring Assessment Kit 40 7.8 Oil Spill Response TPS Tongariro Power Scheme 40 7.9 Public Complaints TRMP Tongariro River Monitoring Plan 40 7.10 Regional Council Audit TSMG Tokaanu Stream Management Group VAMP Volcanic Activity Management Plan 41 08 COMMUNITY & ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES WDC Wanganui District Council 42 8.1 Whio Forever WRC Waikato Regional Council 43 8.1.1 Sponsorship for Lower Tongariro Community Blue Duck Project WHIONE Whio Operation Nest Egg 43 8.2 Tongariro National Trout Centre WRET Enhancement Trust 44 8.3 Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre Sponsorship 45 8.4 Green Rig 45 8.5 Aquatic Biosecurity 46 8.6 Community Health Centre 46 8.7 Genesis Energy Turangi Aquatic Centre 47 8.8 Turangi Public Library - Summer Reading Programme 47 8.9 Te Whare Waka - Tokaanu Water Sports Centre 47 8.10 The Kerry Scott Story - History of the Tongariro Power Development 48 09 KEY OBJECTIVES 2010-11 REVIEW 49 9.1 Review of Key Objectives for 2011-2012 50 9.2 Key Objectives 2012-2013 Cover photo: View of and Moawhango Dam 51 10 REFERENCES 04 TONGARIRO // 12 comprehensive consultation processes, to defineissues, to identify New ZealandLimited (ECNZ) and thenGenesisEnergy to develop for theTPS.Thesepartiesassisted theElectricity Corporation of a long periodoftime, intheprocess to renew resource consents Many individualsandorganisations were directly involved, over the ongoingeffects oftheschemehas beengathered. collaboration, anextensive amountofresearch andinformation on the scheme’s construction. Since 1991,withmulti-stakeholder amount ofbaselinetechnical information wascollected prior to the most extensively researched inNew Zealand.Asignificant The Tongariro Power Scheme environment isarguably oneof 1.2 RESOURCECONSENTSPROCESS OVERVIEW www.genesisenergy.co.nz copy ofthisdocument,can befound onthe website: More information aboutGenesisEnergy, includinganelectronic specific technical reports listed in the references). the monitoring programmes andinitiatives undertaken (refer to for this information) orprovide extensive detailed information on strategy orperformance (refer to theCompany AnnualReport and stakeholder activitiesatasite. Itdoesnotoverview company the AnnualReport.Itprovides anoverview ofallenvironmental This AERbridgesthegapbetween site specific reporting and reporting requirements to stakeholders. include detailed technical reports, auditreports andvarious documentation onitsactivitieseachyear (Figure 1).These Genesis Energy produces asuite ofreports andother 1.1 DOCUMENTOVERVIEW within thecommunities withinwhichitoperates. issues asthey ariseandto develop closer working relationships Genesis Energy aimsto beaccessible to thepublic,to address 2010–11 report publishedinSeptember 2011.Thisreport will: June 2012.Thisistheseventh AERfor theTPSandfollows the activities whichoccurred attheTPSbetween 1July 2011and30 is to update communities andstakeholders onthewiderange of for theTongariro Power Scheme(TPS).Thepurposeofthisreport Welcome to the2011-2012AnnualEnvironmental Report(AER) hihiko motenei rohe oTongariro. Nau maihaere maikitenei Ripoata Taiao epaanakite mahi 01 INTRODUCTION

FIGURE 1//Reporthierarchy atGenesisEnergy. define environmental objectives attheTPS for the report oncommunity andenvironmental initiatives; report backonkey projects; provide anupdate onmonitoring andresearch programmes; next 12months. provide anoverview ofresource consent compliance attheTPS;

geographical regions: This report documentsenvironmental outcomes basedonkey 1.3 HOW TO USETHISDOCUMENT ‘agreements’. resource consent conditions. Theseoutcomes are referred to as parties to implement mitigationoutcomes thatare outsidethe location. Insuchcases, GenesisEnergy works directly with consent conditions because they cannot beeasily tiedto aspecific time. However, someissues cannot beaddressed viaresource require specificactions to occur atspecific locations andpointsin possible, outcomes resulted inresource consent conditions that outcomes thatoperate outsideoftheresource consents. Where process; bothresource consent conditions aswell asmitigation This documentrefers to arange ofoutcomes from theconsultative the consents process. operational reasons –have addedto information gathered during conditions andsomeundertaken byGenesisEnergy for Ongoing monitoring programmes –somerequired byconsent continued operation oftheTPS. to acomprehensive suite ofresource consents thatauthorisethe The extensive programme ofconsultation andresearch hasled agree onoutcomes to address theseissues. how theseissues shouldbeinvestigated and,inmost cases, to Energy achieve itsvisionof‘Makingadifference to New Zealand’. contribute to thesuccess ofthecompany, andwhichwillhelpGenesis at GenesisEnergy. They are theactionsandbehaviours, whichhelp Genesis Energy’s four core values definethewaythingsare done 1.4.1 GENESISENERGY’S VALUES TO ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 1.4 GENESISENERGY’S APPROACH background information onspecificissues. ‘Orange text like this’ Consent Description#(condition) resource consent conditions. report. Thisidentifiesthepartsof report that relate to specific ‘Bold text like this’ The report alsoprovides non-geographical information for:

FIGURE 2// Lake Rotoaira andLake Taupo. Western Diversion (WhanganuiRiver Catchment); Tongariro River; Eastern Diversion (Wahianoa, Lake Moawhangoandthe Community andEnvironmental Initiatives. Scheme-wide Outcomes; Moawhango River); GenesisEnergy Values. will helpyou to find your wayaround the

throughout thereport provides useful

1.4.2 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM The purpose of the RCMS is to ensure that Genesis Energy manages its statutory and stakeholder obligations effectively and Genesis Energy seeks to continuously improve environmental that essential requirements are not overlooked. management in relation to the use of natural and physical resources across all its sites and has developed an Environmental During the reporting period an upgraded RCMS has successfully Management System (EMS) which suits the specific nature of its been rolled out across the business (figure 3). A range of business, and its legislative and stakeholder requirements. improvements previously identified include: integration of the RCMS with core Genesis Energy systems; the addition of third party Genesis Energy’s EMS framework is based on international agreements; improved administration functionality; and a shift best practice and illustrates the role that Genesis Energy’s to a better supported technology platform. Training for all RCMS existing business systems, for example, the Resource Consent users was conducted at each generation site and ongoing support Management System (see Section 1.4.3) play in managing the is provided. The key recommendation (system integration) from company’s environmental issues. the Ernst and Young audit of Genesis Energy’s resource consent management has been addressed in the upgrade (see Section 1.4.2). Genesis Energy seeks to continuously improve the way it manages its environmental impacts and recognises the necessity of regular All Genesis Energy staff can access the RCMS through the audits and reviews to achieve this. local intranet but only designated administrators within the Environmental Team can make changes and update/sign off tasks, Ernst and Young were engaged in 2009 to audit the systems and or view potentially confidential information contained within third processes in place to manage compliance with resource consents party agreements. at Genesis Energy’s production sites, including the TPS. The audit highlighted a high level of awareness of consent conditions 1.4.4 HYDROLOGY amongst the generation asset environmental teams and that robust processes are in place to manage resource consent Genesis Energy has an extensive hydrology monitoring network requirements. No significant instances of resource consent around the TPS. A variety of flow, water level and rainfall data is breaches were identified. A key for improvement was systems collected in real-time and near real-time. This information is sent integration. An upgrade of the Resource Consent Management to Genesis Energy’s Renewable Energy Control Centre together System was completed during the reporting year, to better with a range of plant and market information. integrate the systems involved in the capture and management of resource consent requirements. Since November 2010 the hydrometric network has been maintained by an in-house team of hydrology staff. During the During the reporting period, an internal resource consent and 2011/12 reporting period the Hydrology team has put an extensive third party agreement audit was carried out across Tekapo, amount of work into improving the monitoring network which has Waikaremoana, Tongariro and Huntly generation sites. The resulted in a high level of compliance along with more efficient purpose of the audit was to identify any improvements that operation of plant for Genesis Energy. The Hydrology team has could be made to systems or processes, to best achieve 100% supported the implementation of key environmental projects compliance. The audit identified some minor improvements that with their technical expertise and ability to share this with have been recommended, however overall, systems and processes stakeholders. are robust. An internal audit will be conducted on an annual basis hereafter, to ensure any advances in resource consent and third Data collected by the hydrology team is audited by an independent party agreement management can be identified. third party on at least an annual basis to maintain a high level of transparency and external credibility and ensure data is being 1.4.3 RESOURCE CONSENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM collected and processed to a high standard.

To help manage resource consents and third party agreements 1.5 FEEDBACK across all generation sites, Genesis Energy has developed a Resource Consent Management System (RCMS). This system Genesis Energy has worked to make this report informative and holds all information relating to resource consents, third party easy to understand. Your feedback is welcome on both content agreements, and permitted activities, and defines, prompts and and layout. Contact details are as follows: monitors actions required by their conditions, and reports on the Renewable Energy – Tokaanu Power Station status of these. State Highway 47 Private Bag 36, TURANGI 3353 Phone (07) 384 7200 // 12

ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT ENVIRONMENTAL

FIGURE 3 // Screenshot of RCMS upgrade. 05 06 TONGARIRO // 12 02 POWER SCHEME TONGARIRO together witharange ofplantandmarket information. information isbrought into the Tokaanu Generation Control Centre, and sedimentdata iscollected inreal timeandnearreal time.This around theTPS.Avariety offlow, water level, rainfall, water quality Genesis Energy hasanextensive hydrology monitoring network 2.1 OPERATING THE TONGARIRO POWER SCHEME Tailrace withnodownstream effects. being able to discharge large amounts ofwater into theTokaanu arises asaresult ofusing water stored withinLake Rotoaira and thus providing securityfor theelectricity system. Thisability increase load from low levels to fullload inamatter ofminutes, Zealand power system istheabilityofTokaanu Power Station to An additionalbenefitthatiscritical to theoperation oftheNew the highvoltages astheload alters. electricity travels northduringtheday. Atnight-time, itreduces transmission gridbyboosting thevoltage (pressure) onthegridas north electricity transfer route, provides essential supportto the Tokaanu Power Station, ideally located along themainsouth– New Zealandsupply system islocated intheSouthIsland.The grid. Asubstantial amountofgeneration neededwithinthe The TPSplaysanimportant role inNew Zealand’s electricity megawatts (MW),utilisingthesameflow ofwater. mid 1990s,whichincreased thestation’s outputfrom 220to 240 upgrade ofTokaanu Power Station’s turbinerunners duringthe concepts andto improve efficiency. An example ofthisisthe been modified over recent years to take advantage ofnew design facilities elsewhere inNew Zealand.Individualcomponents have power stations isrelatively moderncompared to hydro generating The generating equipmentatTokaanu, RangipoandMangaio a significantly greater proportion ofthenation’s electricity supply. instantaneous basis,whenoperating atfullcapacity, theTPSprovides generation atpower stations along theWaikato River. Onan Rangipo andMangaiopower stations andtheremainder viaadditional Zealand’s annualelectricity demand,3.5%ofthisfrom theTokaanu, The water diverted bytheTPSproduces approximately 5%ofNew of rainfall inshortperiodsoftime. subject to tropical cyclones thatcan result insignificant amounts variability from year to year. Thecatchments oftheschemeare the central NorthIslandvolcanoes. There isalsovery highrainfall elevation: itranges from 1200mmatTurangi to over 3400mmin rainfall varies extensively across thearea, mainly inrelation to the rainfall derived from north-west frontal systems. Meanannual area come from thenorth-west andthesouth-west, withmost of The dominantweather patterns thataffect river flows intheTPS Rangipo and Tokaanu power stations before discharging to Lake Taupo. uses aseriesoflakes, canals andtunnelsto bringwater to the volcanoes, mountsRuapehu,Tongariro andNgauruhoe.Thescheme comes from theKaimanawaRangesandcentral NorthIsland , Whanganui,MoawhangoandTongariro. Most ofthewater The TPSislocated intheheadwaters offour majorcatchments: and thento GenesisEnergy inApril1999. Electricity Corporation ofNew ZealandLimited (ECNZ)in1987, transferred from theNew ZealandElectricity Departmentto the in thearea duringschemedevelopment. Ownership oftheTPS and housing,includingthetownship ofTurangi, wasconstructed commissioned inlate 1982.Infrastructure suchasroads, bridges 1973; thelast majordevelopment, theRangipoPower Station, was and 1983.TheTokaanu Power Station first generated electricity in of thecentral volcanic plateau. Itwasconstructed between 1960 the energy oftherivers andstreams thatflow from themountains The TPSwasconceived inthe1950’s to generate electricity using the backcover. Taupo. Thelocation andfeatures oftheschemeare shown inside (TPS), whichissituated inthecentral NorthIsland,southofLake Genesis Energy owns andoperates theTongariro Power Scheme 02 TONGARIRO POWER SCHEME TPS withnoevents ofanyreal significance recorded for the reporting Sustained low intensity rainfall events were seenover muchofthe in thereporting periodwithflows close to the long-term average. 84-149% oftheirlong-term averages. There were nosignificant floods Average flows for the reporting periodaround theTPS ranged from Energy’s key monitoring sites (Table 1)wasclose to average. During thereporting periodthelevel ofrainfall measured atGenesis 2.2 CLIMATE ANDPOWER GENERATION their standard operating limits(includingresource consent limits). Generation Controllers whenvarious parameters trend outsideof all aspectsofthescheme,enablingremote control andalerting the upgrade in2009assists theoperations team, providing details on complex operational control system thatunderwent asignificant conditions andoperating withintheelectricity market rules. A generation while maintaining compliance withresource consent and efficiently aspossible, to maximiseprofit from electricity A 24/7Generation Control team runstheTPSaseffectively hydro-power stations located ontheWaikato River. Waikato catchment by theTPSandthensubsequently usedbythe does notincludeadditionalgeneration from water diverted into the power theannualdemand ofapproximately 178,000households -this 1,385 GWh produced inthereporting periodwasenoughelectricity to of 7,760kWh/yr(Ministry of Economic Development, 2012;p121),the Based onanaverage figure ofelectricity consumption perhousehold the TPSasawhole duringthisperiodwasslightly below average. - givingatotal of1,385GWh for thereporting period.Generation for Power Station generated 589GWh andMangaioPower Station 7GWh Tokaanu Power Station generated 789gigawatthours (GWh), Rangipo term average. also recorded above average flows (126%) compared to thelong- at Te Maire site, meantthattheWhakapapaRiver atFootbridge site out to meettheminimumflow requirements atthe WhanganuiRiver autumn inflows which required the Western Diversion to beturned Diversion to beturned out.This,along withslightly below average The sameTokaanu Tunnel inspection alsorequired theWestern down theTongariro River for aperiodoftwo weeks. inspection. Subsequently, higherthanaverage flows were released this resulted inthePoutu Canalbeingclosed for theduration ofthe required generation to beceased attheTokaanu Power Station and which occurred intheTokaanu Tunnel duringApril.Thisinspection recorded above average flow (111%)due to atunnelinspection Further downstream, theTongariro River atPoutu Intake site this site for several months. water wasreleased from RangipoDamwhichincreased the flow at Rangipo Power Station. Duringthemaintenance period,additional average flow (149%).Thiswasdue to amaintenance outage at The Tongariro River atRangiposite wassignificantly above the maintenance activitieswhichwere scheduled for thereporting period. which can largely beattributed to ahighnumberofpreventative Despite this,anumberofflow sites recorded above average flows or below long-term averages. summer; however for therest ofthereporting period,rainfall wasat average rainfall for themonthofOctober andheadinginto early period. BoththeEastern andWestern diversions experienced above Turangi Met Tukino Waipakihi Ruatahuna Karikaranga Monitoring Site rainfall monitoring duringthereporting period. TABLE 1//GenesisEnergy Rainfall Total (mm) 1,368 2,546 1,883 1,475 848 Percentage ofaverage (%) 106 104 96 94 86

07 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 08 TONGARIRO // 12 03 DIVERSION EASTERN Discharge to MangaioStream MWRC101277(1) increased thisflow capacity. m³/s. There have beennomodifications to this structure thathave diverted bytheWahianoa Aqueduct, basedondesigncriteria, is9 Maximum Flows Discharge to MangaioStream MWRC101277(6) amount ofwater diverted duringthistimewas3.89m period istherefore from 1July 2011until26May2012.Theaverage installed flow records willbeobtained again. Data for the reporting until theendofreporting period.Once thebypass valve isre- result diverted flows were unable to bemeasured from 26May2012 re-installed whentheaqueductwasreinstated on26May2012.Asa not beusedto measure flow. The bypass valve was not ready to be removed for repair, duringwhichtimethe velocity sensorcould maintenance includedtheMangaioPower Station bypass valve being the MangaioPower Station andTunnel (seeSection7.5).This Mangaio Tunnel wasclosed to undertake maintenance work on diverted bytheWahianoa Aqueduct.Duringthereporting period Genesis Energy monitors thecombined flow ofallwater being 3.1.1 HYDROLOGY Aqueduct are: Key outcomes oftheconsultative process for theWahianoa flows (seeSection3.1.3). Wahianoa Aqueductandtheinvestigation ofconnective andagreed to) thetributaries affected bythediversion ofwater through the the wayfor jointinitiatives includingresearch on(butnotlimited December 2010between NgatiRangiandGenesisEnergy paves constructive discussions. Therelationship agreement signedin Genesis Energy andNgatiRangientered into lengthy butvery The partieswere unable to engageconstructively until2010,when Effects (2000). Tongariro Power Development Assessment ofEnvironmental and monitoring undertaken atthistimeare describedinthe warning ofspillevents. Further details oftheconsultation process conditions were agreed around flow monitoring andthepublic consents for theTongariro Power Scheme(TPS)andconsent and consultation wasundertaken duringtheprocess to renew within aCrown forest leased to EarnslawOneLtd.Research uses for military training andexercises andtheremainder is the area thattheNew ZealandDefence Force (NZDF)actively access islimited to theWahianoa Aqueductaspartofitlieswithin Wahianoa Aqueductiswithintherohe ofNgatiRangi.Public Crater Lake. is periodically acidic,dueto itssource beingMountRuapehu’s diverted from themainstem oftheWhangaehuRiver asthisriver generally twice themeanflow oftheinflowing stream. Nowater is intake exceeds theintake capacity. Thecapacity ofeachintake is water passes over theintakes whentheflow upstream ofeach of theWhangaehuRiver via22intake structures. Duringfloods, The Wahianoa Aqueductdiverts water from atleast 26tributaries 3.1 WAHIANOA AQUEDUCT 03 EASTERNDIVERSION

development ofaswimminghole intheWhangaehu River. no diversion ofcontaminated water bodies, with public warningwhenintakes are closed andwater isallowed connective flows and research into agreed flows for fourof flow monitoring to confirm how muchwater isbeing the establishment ofarelationship agreement particular emphasison: rise immediately downstream ofsomestructures; to flow down itsnatural course, which can result inasudden the tributaries to theWahianoa Aqueduct; diverted andwhen; with NgatiRangi;

real timemonitoring ofwater quality; the development ofaVolcanic Activity Management Plan (VAMP); Themaximumamountofwater able to be

³

/s.

tributaries duringthereporting period.However, theagreement ecosystems were undertaken ontheWahianoa Aqueduct Aquatic Ecosystems 3.1.2 AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS ANDWATER QUALITY Wahianoa AqueductTake MWRC101278(3) include theseroutine tests. routine test takes upto 10minutes. Thedates above donot system iscarried outto ensure thatthesystem isrobust. A Throughout theyear, routine testing oftheautomated tripping turned outonthefollowing dates: any damageorpotential operational hazards. Theaqueductwas be completely drained while engineers checked thestructure for repair thetunnel(seeSection7.5).Thisrequired theaqueduct to during thisreporting perioditwasturnedoutdueto aproject to The Wahianoa Aqueductcan beturnedoutfor several reasons; notified prior to planneddischarges. what to doshouldthealarmsound.Relevant organisations are together withsignageidentifyinghazard areas andexplaining alarm thatwarnsofanypendingdischarge, plannedorunplanned, Winstones PulpInternational). Thesystem consists ofanaudible Zealand Defence Force (NZDF)andEarnslawOne(formerly established inconsultation withthetwo key neighbours: New To mitigate potential hazards, apublicwarningsystem hasbeen downstream oftheintakes. released, whichmaycreate hazards inthesestreams immediately management purposes.Whenthesegates operate, water is both the Wahianoa Intake and Intake 2 for maintenance and hazard Public Warning representatives hasmetregularly over the past year. Relationship Group, comprising NgatiRangiandGenesisEnergy Station atthebottom oftheOhakune Mountain Road.The into new premises intheoldDepartmentofConservation Ranger Environmental Unit,hasrelocated from Maungarongo Marae within theirrohe. TheNgatiRangiTrust, includingthenew provide theiwiwithcapacity to focus onenvironmental outcomes responsible for theimplementation oftheagreement andto Ngati Rangihasnow established anEnvironmental Unit information, andabove all,promotes astrong relationship. research, amitigationprogramme, thesharingofknowledge and key objectives includingconnective flows research, agreed flows Group. Thisgroup oversees the development andmonitoring of effects onNgatiRangithrough theestablishment ofaRelationship The agreement setsoutthe framework andgoalsto mitigate adverse caused bytheEastern Diversion oftheTPS. environmental, cultural andspiritualeffects onthekawaora enduring relationship and setsoutsteps to mitigate someofthe The agreement fosters thebuildingofapositive, interactive and term relationship to work toward therestoration ofkawaora. representing thepeoples ofNgatiRangiiwi,entered into along- In December 2010,GenesisEnergy andtheNgatiRangiTrust, and responsibility to protect, nurture andupholdthekawaora. the Eastern Diversion oftheTPSinhibitsNgatiRangi’s ability of thecatchment andawayfrom theirrohe. They assert that TPS andcontinued diversion oftheirancestral waterways out Ngati Rangihasconsistently objected to thedevelopment ofthe 3.1.3 NGATI RANGI Discharge to MangaioStream MWRC101277(2) There were nosignificant events duringthe reporting period. ensure thatcontaminated water isnotdiverted bytheTPS. Wahianoa Aqueductto alert GenesisEnergy ofvolcanic events to Water Quality streams inthisarea. waterways andplanningisunderwayto develop relevant new work rohe (seeSection3.1.3)includesjointresearch ontheWahianoa reached withNgatiRangiover theimpactsofTPSontheir

02 April2012–26May Water qualitymonitoring isundertaken onthe The Wahianoa Aqueducthasautomatic gates at Nofurtherinvestigations into aquatic

09 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 010 TONGARIRO // 12 hearing process for theTPSresource consents. Genesis Energy butcame aboutasarecommendation from the Council. Thiscondition wasnotproposed byNgatiRangior with NgatiRangiTrust andtheManawatu Wanganui Regional that thelocation ofthebathinghole isdetermined inconsultation within sixmonthsofthecommencement ofresource consents and recreational bathinghole beestablished intheWhangaehuRiver Recreational Amenity Area promising students whoshow strong leadership potential. education andthe$1,000scholarships willbeawarded annually to negotiations priorto herdeathin2011. Lilahadapassion for Rangi Trustee, madeto theNgatiRangi/GenesisEnergy relationship significant contribution Lila Pakinga, inher capacity asaNgati Hannah Brown (Year 12).Thesescholarships commemorate the to RuapehuCollege students Merekatene Haitana (Year 11)and the inaugural LilaPakinga MemorialScholarships were awarded Lila Pakinga MemorialScholarships Wahianoa Aqueductandthegoalof agreed flows. of furtherresearch programmes relating to thetributaries ofthe in regard to theconnective flow testing andtheimplementation Discussion isongoingbetween GenesisEnergy andNgatiRangi testing ontheTomowai Stream can commence. of modifications attheintake, itisnow hopedthat connected flow Section 7.5)whichhashampered connective flow testing. Asa result in sedimentbuild-upandfrequent spillattheTomowai Intake (see the opportunityto resolve someoftheoperational issues resulting different release flows. TheMangaio Tunnel outage alsoprovided at natural flow and to furthermeasure downstream hydrology at provided anopportunity to observe flow conditions onthe Tokiahuru The MangaioTunnel outage inApril/May2012 (seeSection7.5) flow coming andgoingat various locations downstream oftheintake. Stream. Thisisavery hydrologically complex tributary, withsurface Work hascontinued to test connective flows onthe Tokiahuru connected flows established inJune2012(seeFigure 4). installed to deliver theagreed flow. These valves were openedand and Makahikatoa streams andpurposebuiltvalves have been team. Connective flows have beenagreed onthe Wahianoa Rangi representatives andtheGenesisEnergy hydrology took place in2011andthesummerof2012involving Ngati Flow testing ontheWahianoa, Makahikatoa andTokiahuru a continuous andvisible flow ‘from themountains to thesea’. waterways ontheWahianoa Aqueductbyensuringthatthere is ‘connecting flow’ is to reconnect themauriofthese four Makahikatoa, Tokiahuru andTomowai). Thepurposeofa on four tributaries oftheWhangaehuRiver (theWahianoa, agreement hasbeentheimplementation of‘connective flows’ Connected Flows Project valve attheWahianoa Intake. from GenesisEnergy, following theopeningofconnected flow FIGURE 4//KeithWood from theNgatiRangiTrust andCamSpeedy Onekey partoftherelationship Resource consents require thata Duringthereporting period, Moawhango DamMWRC101279(2) the reporting period(Table 2). 837 maslto 852.1masl.Thelake level was100%compliant during Lake Moawhangohasanormaloperating range of15.1mfrom 3.2.1 HYDROLOGY Key outcomes oftheconsultative process for Lake Moawhangoare: exercises. TheNZDFstrictly controls access into Lake Moawhango. Defence Force (NZDF)actively usesfor military training and to Lake Moawhangoasitispartofthearea thattheNew Zealand water storage reservoir withintheTPS.There isnopublicaccess Lake Moawhangoisanartificialhydro lake andistheonly large 3.2 LAKEMOAWHANGO Mangaio Power Station. There are nospecific resource consents or conditions for the was commissioned on21December 2008. and headto generate 1.8MWofelectricity. MangaioPower Station of theWahianoa Aqueduct.Thestation utilisestheexisting flow The MangaioPower Station islocated attheLake Moawhangoend 3.1.4 MANGAIO POWER STATION Wahianoa AqueductTake MWRC101276(5) little meritanddiscussions are continuing. The partiesagree thatthiscondition oftheresource consent has has continued whenthelake isathighwater levels. to 10.38m.Erosion ofthebanksdirectly below thevegetation line than between 2002and2007whenmovement varied from 0.64m 5.68 m.Generally, themovement ofthevegetation linewasless and 2012thevegetation linehadretreated between 0.14mand This year’s shoreline transect survey showed thatbetween 2007 was 31.5%full(841.75masl)during theMay2012survey. survey reported byChealConsultants Ltd(2012). Lake Moawhango Moawhango duringthereporting period,andtheresults ofthis The five-yearly shoreline transect survey was repeated onLake resource consent requirements following re-consenting in2004. occurring atLake Moawhango.Thismonitoring became partof photo-point monitoring to identifyanyshoreline changes repeat shore profile surveys (5-yearly from 2002)withannual Genesis Energy putinplace amonitoring programme involving identified and,where appropriate, remedial works undertaken. monitoring iscarried outsothatanysignificant erosion can be around thelake. Through a2002agreement, regular lakeshore unduly affect theirland,andinparticularroad access to and conjunction withtheNZDFto ensure thatlake erosion doesnot this operating range. GenesisEnergy hasbeenworking in protective vegetation can result inshoreline erosion throughout with highwinds,soft(volcanic) shoreline geology andalackof increasing theoperating range to 15.1m.Wave actionassociated In 2002thecrest of theMoawhangoDamwasraised by1.2m, 3.2.2 SEDIMENT(EROSION,TRANSPORTANDDEPOSITION) Moawhango DamMWRC101279(1) modifications to thedamduring reporting period. consent basedondesigncriteria. There have notbeenany Dam Specifications Parameter Minimum Level

reporting period. TABLE 2//Lake Moawhangolake level compliance duringthe an agreement withtheNZDF. lake shoreline erosion monitoring; provision ofriver flow information viafree phoneand/or lake level monitoring; Genesis Energy’s website; (masl) Value 837 Damspecifications are definedinthe resource

(%) Compliance 100

(condition) Consent Number MWRC 101279(2)

lake-fed watercourse to become established, andto enhance enable aquaticspeciesrepresentative ofahealthyhigh-country The provision ofminimumflows was to provide habitat to external scientificagencies. Institute ofWater andAtmosphericResearch (NIWA) and other extensive research, analysis and recommendations by the National minimum flow andflushing flow regime were developed following duration, duringsummermonths(December to March). The provision offour periodic flushingflows of30m³/s fornine hours minimum flow of0.6m³/sdownstream ofthedamandby watercourse”. Thiswasto beachieved byreleasing acontinuous of thedamrepresentative ofa“healthyhigh-country lake-fed by manystakeholders: to make theMoawhangoRiver downstream During theconsultation process acommon objective wasagreed monitoring reports. details can befound insubsequentstatements ofevidence and Development Assessment ofEnvironmental Effects (2000).Further monitoring undertaken are describedintheTongariro Power understand effects. Full details oftheconsultation process and process, orwhere furthermonitoring wasrequired to fully been achangeto theoperations resulting from theconsultative Generally, additionalmonitoring isundertaken where there has been established orenhanced, ormitigationhasbeenundertaken. made to power schemeoperations, monitoring programmes have operation oftheTPS.Where appropriate, changeshave been have beenundertaken to determine theeffects oftheongoing Significant research and consultation ontheMoawhangoRiver river for recreation. freshwater ecology, aswell asthecommunity’s abilityto usethe were most pronounced duringsummerandincludedeffects on tributary, theAorangi Stream. Theeffects ofthisreduction inflow immediately downstream ofthedamto thefirst significant Prior to 2001there wasvery little flow intheMoawhangoRiver 3.3 MOAWHANGO RIVER Moawhango DamDischarge MWRC101280(12) Moawhango DamMWRC101279(6) have beenmadeandtheseare beingfollowed up(seeFigure 5). A numberofotherminorriskmanagementrecommendations greatest where theprofile isflat. place. Thisisgenerally atthelower endoftheprofiles andis significant sedimentation (deposition)ofup to 2.9mhas taken consistent between 2002and2012.There are someareas where prone to erosion. The erosion over thisarea hasbeenreasonably between themaximumandminimumoperating levels ismost wave actioneroding awaysoftsoilsandsediments.Thearea As thelake level fluctuates, there is evidence ofshelving with Lake Moawhango FIGURE 5//Geotextile matfailure ontheshoreline of

River were: Key outcomes oftheconsultative process for theMoawhango management planandanamenityarea (seeSection3.3.3). Genesis Energy agreed withthecommunity to develop awillow 2000, inadditionto thenew minimum/flushingflow regime, and willow encroachment. To address theseissues, intheyear had beenreduced over theyears asaresult ofreduced flows Moawhango community. However, theamenityvalue oftheriver The MoawhangoRiver was,andstill is,afocal pointfor the growth makes theriver dangerous inmanyparts. flows are alsoavailable for rafters andkayakers althoughwillow preventing theproblems associated withanoxic sediments.The and detritusfrom theriver, thereby improving water qualityand the effects ofnatural floodsby removing accumulated sediment The objective ofregular flushingflows duringsummeris tomimic and itisnow aconsent condition. strong supportfrom thelocal community andinterested parties implemented theminimumflow voluntarily in2001 following natural character through thelength oftheriver. GenesisEnergy resulted inadelayto react to flow changesatthemonitoring site. location, approximately 45minutes flow timefrom MoawhangoDam, inherently difficult to monitor minimumflow compliance. Thesites The MoawhangoRiver atWaiouru monitoring location hadproved Moawhango River atWaiouru hadpreviously been0.8m³/s. site. Therefore theminimum flow thatwasmaintained atthe allowed for tributary inflows between thedamandmonitoring downstream ofthedamandanadditional0.2m³/s hadbeen (Figure 6,site 2).Thisflow site is located somedistance hydrology monitoring site ontheMoawhangoRiver atWaiouru Moawhango River. Historically thishadbeenmetusinga of atleast 0.6m³/sisrequired below MoawhangoDaminthe Minimum Flow – Moawhango DamMagflow minimum flow stipulated inthe consent. amount offlow required to be released from the dam to meetthe of themagflow device which,asdescribedbelow, has reduced the slightly below thelong-term mean.Thisisdueto theinstallation River. Flow attheMoawhangoRiver atWaiouru site, however, was capacity andthere were nospillevents down theMoawhango events, andasaresult Lake Moawhangodidnotexceed itsstorage average rainfall duringtheyear withno significant individual mean duringthisreporting period(Figure 6).Thisis dueto about at Moawhangosite wasapproximately equalto thelong-term limits hadalways beeninplace. Flow attheMoawhangoRiver is calculated asiftheoretically thepresent resource consent period, compared to thelong-term mean.Thelong-term mean Moawhango River. Italsoshows themeanflow for the reporting Figure 6shows thelocation ofkey flow monitoring sites inthe 3.3.1 HYDROLOGY

an agreement withWellington RegionFish&GameCouncilto flood managementandpublicwarning; to ensure thattheriver downstream oftheMoawhango annual consultative meetingswiththeMoawhangocommunity. agreements withNgatiWhitikaupeka,Tamakopiri and development ofanamenityarea atMoawhangoVillage; development ofawillow managementplan; water course”, specifically through: Dam isrepresentative of“ahealthyhigh-country lake-fed Ngati Hauitito address tangata whenuaissues; within theMoawhangoRiver; address issues resulting from theloss offishingopportunity

measuring outcomes through themonitoring ofwater flushing flows; minimum flows; defined intheEastern Diversion Monitoring Plan. quality, periphyton growth andmacro-invertebrates as

Aminimumflow

011 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 // 12

TONGARIRO

FIGURE 6 // Eastern Diversion monitoring results during the reporting period. 12 non-compliance. was notinitiated bythedutyGeneration Controller, resulting ina week (21March 2012), astheplannedrelease for 14March 2012 The March flushingflow had tobe re-scheduled forthe following one hour. requirement to ramp down theflows over aperiodofnot less than hours). Allflushingflows were also compliantwith respect tothe flows were compliant in terms oftheir required duration (nine 4). Allreleases hadaverage flows ofat least 30m³/s,and all Four flushingflows occurred duringthe2011-12summer (Table Moawhango VillageandRangitikei River. 7pm and9pmonthenightbefore theflushing event reaches the now alsorequires theflushingflow tobe established bybetween required to occur over aperiodofonehour. Thevariation obtained depending onthelevel ofLake Moawhangoatthetime,andisnot required for operational purposes,however thisisnow able to vary A ramping upperiodofapproximately 30–90minutes isstill the flushingflow over aone-hourperiodwasno longernecessary. was therefore considered thattheformal requirement to ‘ramp up’ when they are measured downstream (approximately 45minutes). It requirement dueto thelagtimefrom whenflows are released, to rising river levels. Itwasalsodifficult to meetthisspecific1hour during nighttime,there isconsiderably less publicriskfrom any from suddenincreased flows. Since theflows are now released day, whenitwasconsidered thatthepublicwould beatrisk originally instated whenthereleases were to occur duringthe The requirement to ramp upover anhour-long periodwas gradually, andsoreduce thepublicsafety riskdownstream. the premise thatthis‘ramping up’timewould seetheriver rise the valve wasto beopenedinstages over aone-hourperiod,with of itsflushingflows. Previously the resource consent required that variation allowing for theremoval oftheramping uprequirement During thereporting period,GenesisEnergy wasgranted aconsent coincided withanatural flood. community andriver users, andinseven years, noflushhas ever to downstream river users. Thechangeswere agreed withthe River. Theseprovisions posedsignificant healthandsafety risks possible, with anatural flood event intheupperMoawhango and February flushingflows were intended to coincide,where flows would beginat5:00amonthe release date, andtheJanuary Rangitikei Rivers. Previously, theconsent stated thatflushing the nightbefore theflushing event reaches theMoawhangoand flows onfixed days from thedambetween 8:00pmand7:00 Manawatu Wanganui RegionalCouncilto release allfour flushing October 2009,GenesisEnergy wasgranted aconsent variation by the community andwithManawatuWanganui RegionalCouncil.In The flushingflow dates are setin consultation withriver users, in eachofthemonthsDecember, January,February andMarch. Flushing Flows Moawhango DamDischarge MWRC101280(6) reporting period) spill flows. (see Table 3 for compliance results inthecurrent flow monitoring site ismaintained to monitor flushing flows and duration of this reporting period. The Moawhango River at to discharge andmonitor the0.6m³/sminimumflow for the Magflow was commissioned on14June2011andhasbeenused and provides agreater level ofminimumflow compliance. The Magflow hasamuchhigheraccuracy thanthein-river flow site to bemonitored inreal timeasitdischarges from thedam.The the minimumflow from MoawhangoDam.Thisallows theflow Magflow wasinstalled onthe compensation valve that releases During the2010/11reporting periodaMagneticFlow meter or Moawhango Dam Location the reporting period. TABLE 3//MoawhangoRiver minimumflow compliance during The four annualflushingflows occur onsetdates

Minimum (m Flows 3 0.6 /s) Compliance 99.99% (%) MWRC 101280(6,7) Consent Number (condition) Moawhango DamDischarge MWRC101280(3,4,5) river users. the effectiveness oftherelease, oronthesafety ofdownstream although thedelayoffour minutes would have hadnobearingon release wastherefore considered to beaminornon-compliance, condition requires thattheflow is established by9:00pm.This reached therequired 30m³/sflow) at9:04pm.The consent The re-scheduled March flushingflow was established (i.e. likelihood ofreleases not beinginitiated inthefuture. and several improvements were madeto significantly reduce the updated. Aninvestigation ofthenon-compliance wascarried out, notifying thegeneral publicoftheflushingflow dates wasalso was received (seeSection7.9)andaddressed. Existing signage with ManawatuWanganui RegionalCouncil.Onecomplaint to stakeholders, Moawhangoresidents aswell asclose liaison advertisements, aswell asphonecalls, e-mailsandmaildrops release date. Theseactionsincludedradio andnewspaper was notcompromised dueto theshortnotification ofthenew to ensure thatthehealthandsafety ofdownstream river users The re-scheduling oftheflushingflow required several actions gaugings were possible. this reporting periodthere were nospillevents whichmeant no flushing flows occur, only spill flows are able tobegauged.During health andsafety issues around working atnight,whichiswhen or spillconditions whichtheMagflow cannot measure. Due to to highendto cover therange offlows present underflushing events. Assuch,therating curve is only maintained atthemiddle monitoring site isutilisedprimarily for themonitoring ofhigh-flow at theMoawhangoDam,River atWaiouru flow As theminimumflow isnow monitored bytheMagflow meter the year. compliance occurs whenthedata isnotwithinthe±8%for 95%of or minus8%ofthetrueflow for at least 95%ofthetime.Non- the power station Generation Controllers observe iswithinplus level to flow relationships) are maintained sothattheflow that Resource consents require thatflow rating curves (thatis,water This data setrepresents the‘trueflow’ oftheriver. backdated to thetimewhenrating changeoccurred. Real-time data isqualityassured andrating changes are as rating changesare identified. compliance data set.Ratingsare updated to thisdata setassoon data set(called theoperational data set),isGenesisEnergy’s collected atmanysites from around thescheme.Thisreal-time Genesis Energy operates theTPSusingreal-time flow data Moawhango DamDischarge MWRC101280(8) riverbed changesdueto floodsor vegetation growth. rating isnotpermanentandwillchangeover timeastheshapeofa converted to flow usinga statistical relationship called a‘rating’.A purposes. Atflow monitoring sites thewater level ismeasured and accuracy offlow data collected for operational and compliance Flow Measurement Accuracy 21 March 12 14 March 12 21 February 12 25 January12 6 December 11 Date reporting period. TABLE 4//MoawhangoRiver flushingflows duringthe

re-scheduled for 21March 12 Average Flow Flushing flow not released- (m 31.96 32.39 34.02 32.76 3 /s) Genesis Energy monitors the 12h 03min 9 h14min 9 h30min 9h 16min Duration Minor non-compliance Non-compliance Full compliance Full compliance Full compliance

Compliance

13 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 Public Warning The large operating volume and prudent Monitoring results for the Eastern Diversion during the reporting management of Lake Moawhango means that all but the largest period are summarised in Figure 6. floods can be contained within the reservoir. On average, the Moawhango Dam Discharge MWRC 101280 (12) lake spills approximately once per year. However, when the lake does spill, a significant amount of water can be released into the Tonkin & Taylor report in detail the in-stream ecology monitoring Moawhango River, which can create safety issues for downstream results from the Moawhango River for the reporting period (Tonkin river users. Flushing flows can also create significant short-term & Taylor, 2012). changes in flow downstream. Public safety surrounding flushing Water Quality Temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH and conductivity flow and spill events is a priority for Genesis Energy. (dissolved nutrients) were recorded throughout the December The Moawhango Dam Public Warning System outlines the 2011 to April 2012 period by Tonkin & Taylor at all monitoring notification procedure developed for both unplanned spill events sites. This monitoring continues to show that all parameters and planned flushing flows from Moawhango Dam. The system remain well within the range of tolerance for sensitive species was made operative in December 2004, prior to the release of the such as trout, native fish and invertebrates. first flushing flow. The system was developed in consultation with: Periphyton (Algae) Some minor changes were made to the TPS the NZDF; monitoring methodologies for the reporting period in response Whitewater New Zealand; to requests from Manawatu Wanganui Regional Council. In property owners and occupiers adjacent to the Moawhango summary, the number of stones that are quantitatively sampled to River, from the dam to Moawhango village; produce a composite sample for periphyton biomass analysis has the Moawhango community; been increased from five stones to ten stones. Ruapehu District Council; Periphyton growth in the Moawhango River for the reporting Council; period was similar to that of previous years with no exceedences Manawatu Wanganui Regional Council. of the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) guidelines recorded. Key components of the system include: However, access to the Waiouru site (approximately 2 km downstream of the Moawhango Dam) was restricted throughout a contacts list of key agencies and property owners; the summer due to Army operations, and as a result, pre-flush public notification of planned spill events (i.e. flushing flows) via: data collection was limited.

newspaper notices; Nuisance periphyton (thick mats in particular) is known to develop e-mail notices; at the Waiouru site over the summer period. letter drops to houses in the vicinity of the river. Quantitative periphyton results from March and May showed that There were no unplanned spill events from Moawhango Dam chlorophyll a values exceeded the Manawatu Wanganui Regional during the reporting period. Council Proposed One Plan target value of 120 mg/m² preflush in Moawhango Dam Discharge MWRC 101280 (1) March at the Woollaston site (143.92 mg/m²). During the post- flush survey chlorophyll a levels had dropped to below the target 3.3.2 AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS AND WATER QUALITY value measuring 69.51 mg/m². Chlorophyll a values remained below the Manawatu Wanganui Regional Council target value at all The Eastern Diversion Monitoring Plan has been developed to other sites on all sampling occasions and were generally reduced measure outcomes of the minimum flows and flushing flows by about 50% by flushing flows. in controlling nuisance periphyton levels and achieving a river representative of “a healthy high country lake-fed water course”. Macro-invertebrates Suren et al (2002) identified the macro- The plan includes monitoring of water quality, periphyton growth and invertebrate fauna that would be representative of “a healthy, macro-invertebrates. The monitoring programme comprises five high-country lake-fed water course” similar to the Moawhango sites. Three are located on the Moawhango River between the dam River below the Moawhango Dam. There should be a mixture of and Woolaston’s Farm (approximately 43 kilometres downstream); less than 15% Coleoptera (beetles) and greater than 50% mayflies, and two reference sites above the dam and Lake Moawhango: one on stoneflies and caddisflies (otherwise known as Ephemeroptera, the Moawhango River and one on the Mangaio Stream. Plecoptera, and Trichoptera [EPT], the three insect orders commonly used to test water quality, and one or more of the Semi-quantitative monitoring of macro-invertebrates and following: greater than 15% Diptera (midge, crane fly and periphyton is undertaken pre and post each flushing flow hawthorn fly), greater than 10% Ephemeroptera (mayflies), or less during December, January, February and March. Quantitative than 5% Oligochaeta (worms), in such a system. assessments are also undertaken in March - the period when river ecology is under most stress from warmer water temperatures, Total benthic macro-invertebrate densities and richness values for low flows and nuisance periphyton build-ups; and again in May, the May 2012 samples (table 5) were similar to the 2010-11 values after the flushing flow “season”.

TABLE 5 // Reference criteria developed by Suren et al. (2002) for the expected macro-invertebrate composition in high country lake-fed rivers (similar to below Moawhango Dam), and results from 2012 monitoring sites above (reference sites), and below, Moawhango Dam.

Criteria for healthy high country Compliance at Site lake-fed river invertebrate community

// 12 Both: Site 1a Site 1b Site 2 Site 3 Site 4

Upstream of Dam Mangaio Stream Waiouru Argo Valley Woollastons (Reference 1) (Reference 2) 50% EPT; and No data this year 81.22 (yes) 51.38 (yes) 43.26 (no) 58.35 (yes) 15% Coleoptera No data this year 11.70 (yes) 0.12 (yes) 1.12 (yes) 1.41 (yes) And either of:

TONGARIRO 15% Diptera; or No data this year 6.24 (no) 34.78 (yes) 55.15 (yes) 33.18 (yes) 10% Ephemeroptera (E); or No data this year 47.92 (yes) 0.17 (no) 0.60 (no) 12.75 (yes)

14 5% Oligochaeta No data this year 0 (yes) 0 (yes) 0.12 (yes) 0 (yes) Moawhango DamMWRC101279 (Advice Note) area adjacent to MoawhangoRiver, near Moawhangovillage. Moawhango community developed aplanfor anamenity Moawhango AmenityArea required interms ofmanaginglog jams infuture years. budget hasnow beenincreased to allow for theextra work time involved with log management.Thewillow management Only minimalnew capital work wasachieved thisyear dueto the of thewillow control maintenance programme. cutting thefallen logs withinthefloodzoneinto 2m lengths aspart the tightgorges. Preventative willow log managementnow involves channel andbecoming jammed,whichisparticularly problematic in have beencaused byanincreased volume oflogs entering theriver Moawhango River hasbeentheincidence ofwillow log jams.These One oftheless desirable outcomes ofpast willow control along the length ofriver treated for willow is12kmsince 2006. treated areas andlog managementinthefloodzone.The total 2012, andpredominantly involved maintenance ofpreviously operations took place duringtheperiod31January-3February progress duringthereporting period.Thisyear’s willow control community andtangata whenuain2005,hascontinued to make The MoawhangoWillow ManagementPlan,approved bythe Moawhango DamMWRC101279(3,4) of theriver andfor maintaining thepreviously cleared reaches. an annualprogramme for controlling willows over a200mreach Willow ManagementPlanhasbeendeveloped. This plansetsout As partofabroad TPSmitigationprogramme, aMoawhango oxygen levels andgivingoffunpleasant odours asthey rot. in backwaters andatthebottom ofdeep,slow pools,lowering deteriorates whenlarge volumes ofwillow leaves accumulate flows andcreate serious water qualityissues. Thewater quality blockages in the river which reduce the cleansing effect of flushing Willow encroachment hasfurtherrestricted water flows, causing have exacerbated theencroachment ofwillows into theriver. or ongoingoperation oftheTPS.However, flow reductions may willows to theMoawhangoRiver isunrelated to thedevelopment Moawhango Willow ManagementPlan 3.3.3 NATURAL CHARACTER ANDAMENITYISSUES the MangaioStream reference site. % EPT(mayfly, caddisfly, stonefly) andMCI scores compared to to theMangaioStream reference site. Thesesites alsohadlower higher levels ofchlorophyll a,bothpre- andpost-flush, compared periphyton biomass levels. Sites below theMoawhangoDamhad Macro-invertebrate results were consistent withmeasured than the50%criteria threshold (seeTable 5). the criteria dueto thepercentage ofEPTtaxa (43.26%)beingless Waiouru andWoollaston sites. TheArgo Valley site didnotmeet reference criteria for healthyhigh-country lake-fed streams atthe Macro-invertebrate community metricsmettheSuren etal.(2002) Mangaio reference site. and Woollaston sites were ‘slightly-impaired’ compared to the Biological Integrity) analysis showed thattheWaiouru, Argo Valley significantly lower compared to the Woollaston site. IBI(Index of The MCIscore attheWaiouru site wasalsofound to be not besampled in2012. the site ontheMoawhangoRiver above Lake Moawhangocould the Mangaioreference site above theDam.Dueto armyactivities, Moawhango Damwere found to besignificantly lower compared to further downstream. TheMCIscores atallthree sites below the at theWaiouru andArgo Valley sites thanattheWoollaston site (Quantitative Macro-invertebrate Community Index) scores lower with MCI(Macro-invertebrate CommunityIndex) andQMCI The 2011-12samples found asimilartrend to previous years, 2010, thanactualecological conditions intheMoawhangoRiver. more to adifference insample processing methods(sieve sizes)post but were lower compared to years priorto 2010.Thisislikely related In 2004,GenesisEnergy andthe The introduction of Rangitikei River isto undertake: The long-term focus of thetrout managementwork onthe trout fisheryintheupperRangitikei River. flow regime. A key partofthisistheenhancement ofthe rainbow undertake off-site mitigation,inadditionto theminimum/flushing agreement withtheWellington RegionFish&GameCouncilto trout fisheryintheMoawhangoRiver, GenesisEnergy reached an was notconsidered realistic to attempt to re-create therainbow on othernearbyrivers, inparticulartheRangitikei River. Asit angling opportunityandpossibly creating additionalpressure in less rainbow trout habitat intheMoawhangoRiver, reducing The reduction inflow downstream of theMoawhangoDam resulted 3.3.4 RECREATION/TOURISM area fundingwithinthenext year. community willmake afinaldecisionaboutthe remaining amenity held on21September 2011anditwasagreed thattheMoawhango length attheannualMoawhangocommunity consultative meeting The proposed development ofanamenityarea wasdiscussed at allowing agreater willow control effort duringthatperiod. the amenityarea were redirected to thispurposeduring2010-11, willow managementplan.Assuch,partofthefundssetasidefor set asidefor theamenityarea to progress thecatchment wide community andtangata whenua,redirected halfofthefunding this, GenesisEnergy, withtheagreement ofthelocal Moawhango would seriously restrict theoriginaldevelopment plans.Following registered archaeological site intheproposed development area These planswere setasidein2008following therealisation thata issues are ongoing. regarding access issues andto defineboundaries.Manyofthese operators andFishGamehave occurred to seekclarification date regarding Armyland.Meetingsbetween landowners, air Defence Force regarding access issues. There are noresults to Commission have heldmeetings withlandowners andtheNZ Fish andGame,inconjunction withtheWalking Access operators) andlandowners Liaison withcommercial users (anglingguidesandaircharter issue, whichisnow beingheard intheEnvironment Court. intensive farming isto becontrolled. Mediationdidnotresolve the removal of the Coastal Rangitikei from the list of catchments where the decisiononOnePlan.Ofparticularconcern wasthe Trout habitat protection anglers whosuppliedtheiremailaddresses. were overseas anglers. Aquestionnaire hasbeenemailed to all season. Thiswasdown from 168in2010-11.Ofthe140,66(41%) form indicated 140licences were issued for the2011-12fishing Back CountryLicense implementing thiswork. gaining tagging experience inothercatchments, withaview to and tags have beenpurchased, while volunteers andstaff are parts oftheRangitikei River incoming years. Fish tagging guns Research offences were detected. the river anditstributaries, with27anglers beingchecked. No Regulation Compliance These includedthefollowing activities: Council for thereporting period are detailed inPilkington (2012). Key initiatives andresults from RegionFish&Game

research to: regulation compliance; trout abundance, spawningandrecruitment monitoring; trout habitat protection.

survey pest plantssuchasDidymo; gain reliable estimates ofbackcountry angler use; identify linksbetween trout recruitment intheRangitikei lower reaches andtheheadwaters; Afurtherfish tagging programme isplanned for the The backcountry licence onlinebooking Rangers madeanumberofvisitsto

Wellington FishandGamehasappealed

15 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 16 TONGARIRO // 12 their key projects including: Hauiti inApril2012atRata Marae, andwasupdated onsome of Ngati Hauiti involved inthefollowing: During thereported period,bothRunangacontinued to beactively information sharinganddiscussion. 2012. Bothofthesemeetingshave provided great opportunityfor and theMangaioPower Station. Thethree partiesalsometinMay Moawhango River (Figure 7),aswell asto visitMoawhangoDam in December 2011to view thewillow control progress along the with representatives ofNgatiWhitikaupekaandTamakopiri Ngati WhitikaupekaandTamakopiri Tamakopiri inregard to thesematters. relationships withNgatiHauiti,Whitikaupekaand on theenvironment. GenesisEnergy hasentered into long-term Waikato catchment hasongoingphysical andspiritualimpacts diversion ofwater from theMoawhangocatchment into the the reduction offlow downstream of thedamandunnatural consistently stated thatthe dammingoftheMoawhangoRiver, Ngati Whitikaupeka,Tamakopiri andNgatiHauitihave AND NGATI HAUITI 3.3.5 NGATI WHITIKAUPEKA,NGATI TAMAKOPIRI

Moawhango River. Haskell andJillChaseviewing willow control progress along the FIGURE 7//CamSpeedy(GenesisEnergy), Moira Raukawa- He WhetuArataki (NgatiHauitiLeadership Programme) (see Mokai Patea Waitangi ClaimsTrust -involvement intheiwi Whanau SportsCommittee -helpingto runanannual Mokai Patea Cultural Standards Plan–thiswillidentifyaniwi Otaihape MaoriKomiti-ahealth,education, andsocial Environmental Working Party -apartnership between Ngati with specific focus on four key areas: activities are undertaken atthenohoandnew skillsare learnt four peryear attherequest oftheparticipants.Many weekend noho(gatherings)peryear has beenincreased to leadership withinNgatiHauiti.Theoriginally proposed three programme whichaimsto provide for asuccession of Figure 8).There are currently 13participantsinthe the rohe. collective dealingwiththe Waitangi Tribunal Claimswithin Whanau SportsDay;and to improve learner achievement; and culture appropriately inclassrooms andschoolsinorder and teachers to incorporate students identity,language development ofasetstandards thatwillenable learners perspective oneducation andwillculminate inthe Maori withinthecommunity; service provider delivering services to Iwi/MaoriandNon environmental impactsontheirshared lands; Whitikaupeka andNgatiTamakopiri inregards to GenesisEnergy metwith representatives ofNgati

Genesis Energy met

Moawhango DamMWRC101280(9,10) those atthemeetingagreed thattherequirement can bechanged. up requirement (seeSection3.3.1)offlows was explained andall A potential variation to aconsent condition regarding theramping- final decisionabouttheamenityarea fundingwithinthenext year. and itwasdecidedthattheMoawhangocommunity willmake a Extensive discussions also occurred ontheproposed amenityarea results for 2010/11. & Taylor) presented theMoawhangoRiver ecological monitoring willow control andmaintenance works. LizaInglis(from Tonkin management willnow become acomponent oftheon-going year, wasdiscussed andthecommunity wasinformed thatlog issue ofwillow log jams,whichcaused problems inthe previous of willow managementwork completed duringtheyear. The September 2011.Thecommunity waspresented withasummary The annualMoawhangocommunity meetingwasheldon21 well attended andexcellent feedback isalways received. management andthedevelopment ofanamenityarea. Meetings are community to discuss flushing flow events, monitoring results, willow Genesis Energy holdsannualmeetingswiththeMoawhango 3.3.6 MOAWHANGO COMMUNITY

designing theirkaranga manu(bird callers). FIGURE 8//NgatiHauitiLeadership Programme participants A Rangitikei wideiwienvironmental conference washeld Nga Pae oRangitikei (Rangitikei River Forum). NgatiHauiti Project Pourewa (Pourewa Stream restoration works). This management ontunaresources. (eel) Biologist JacquesBoubee,to discuss impactsofriver Energy staff attended, inassociation withNIWA tuna in June2012atParewahawaha Marae inBulls.Genesis continues to have aleading role. begin soonwithspeciessuchasflax. seedlings are now beingpropagated andriparianplantingwill section ofthestream andthesectionofstream fenced. Native and . Willows have beenremoved from a2km is atributary oftheRangitikei River thatrunsthrough Rata 4. 3. 2. 1. Kotahitanga (Unity) Manaakitanga (Support) Rangatiratanga (Leadership) Hauititanga (NgatiHauiticulture)

TONGARIRO RIVER

04 17 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 18 TONGARIRO // 12 well asvarious widerinitiatives discussed elsewhere inthisreport. recreational releases from bothRangipoDamandPoutu Intake as the Tongariro River. Assuch,GenesisEnergy agreed to provide that reduced flows were limiting recreational opportunitieswithin Edmund HillaryOutdoorPursuits Centre (OPC)raised concerns As partoftheconsultation process, Whitewater NZandtheSir angling opportunities. research programmes to beundertaken andtheenhancement of be exceeded. Theagreement alsoprovides for fishery science and flows from Poutu Intake shouldspecifiedperiphyton trigger levels concern anagreement wasreached thatprovides for flushing and subsequentsurvival rate ofjuvenile trout. To address this macro-invertebrates present, which could affect thegrowth rates (algae) build-ups,thereby changingthetypeandabundance of Intake maypromote orenhance thegrowth ofnuisance periphyton DOC were concerned thatstable flows downstream of Poutu for the continued operation oftheTPS. trout fisheryas well as recreational opportunities, while allowing downstream ofPoutu Intake. Thisprovides for thedownstream same resource. Acontinuous minimumflow of16m³/sis released In thelower river there are manycompeting demandsfor the populations andtheirhabitat (seeSection7.2). 2002. Thetrust aimsto enhance, protect andpromote blueduck Island BlueDuckConservation Charitable Trust wasformed in enhance blueduckpopulations.Asaresult, theCentral North mitigation programme, to develop ascheme-wideinitiative to Forest andBird Protection Societyagreed, aspartofawider Energy, theDepartmentofConservation (DOC)andtheRoyal which can devastate blueduckandtheirhabitat. Rather,Genesis Tongariro River issusceptible to volcanic events suchaslahars minimum flow for thebenefitofblueduck,specifically asthe it wasnotconsidered practicable to furtherincrease the0.6m³/s An agreement wasreached duringtheconsultative process that flushing flows are released to remove theperiphyton growth. are monitored andtriggerlevels are set.Ifatriggerlevel isreached, that thisdoesnotoccur ontheTongariro River, periphyton levels degraded habitat orfood sources for freshwater species.To ensure character. Nuisance periphyton (algae)proliferations can result in of RangipoDamto provide aquatichabitat andto enhance natural A continuous minimumflow of0.6m³/sis released downstream subsequent statements ofevidence andmonitoring reports. Environmental Effects (2000).Further details can befound in described intheTongariro Power Development Assessment of to thelodgement ofresource consent applications in2000are consultation process andmonitoring undertaken inthelead up fully understand effects over thelong term. Full details ofthe consultative process, orwhere furthermonitoring isrequired to there hasbeenachangeto theoperations resulting from the undertaken. Generally, additionalmonitoring isundertaken where have beenestablished orenhanced, ormitigationhasbeen been madeto power schemeoperations, monitoring programmes ongoing operation oftheTPS.Where appropriate, changeshave undertaken ontheTongariro River to determine theeffects ofthe A significant amountof research and consultation hasbeen river downstream ofPoutu Intake. downstream ofRangipoDamandto alesser degree thelower results inreduced flows intheupper Tongariro River immediately The continued operation oftheTongariro Power Scheme(TPS) Intake to Lake Taupo, where thehighest value trout fisheryoccurs. urban development. Itisinthelower river, downstream ofPoutu flows through amodifiedlandscape of exotic forest, pasture and The lower river ispartially contained withinbothparks,butalso of native species,includingthenationally endangered blueduck. particular ecological values andprovide habitat for awiderange Forest Park andtheTongariro NationalPark, bothofwhichhave upper catchments are largely contained withintheKaimanawa whenua andasaresource for hydroelectricity generation. The recreational resource, itsworld-famous trout fishery,by tangata The Tongariro River ishighly valued for itsecology, asa 04 TONGARIRO RIVER River were: Key outcomes oftheconsultative process for theTongariro of RangipoDamandsedimentation oftheTongariro River Delta. through theconsultation process were floodmanagement,theflushing Other key issues identified for the Tongariro River andaddressed observed effects resulting from theminornon-compliances. level ofcompliance atallsites withinthis catchment andno within theTongariro catchment (Table 6).There wasavery high minimum flows to be released from GenesisEnergy’s structures Minimum Flows generation through RangipoPower Station. being diverted into theTongariro River from Lake Moawhangofor below Poutu Intake as, onaverage, 12.15m³/sofwater wasstill resulted inhigherthanaverage flows inthe Tongariro River turned outfor 2weeks duringApril2012(seeSection7.5).This on theTokaanu Tunnel which required thePoutu Canalto be above average. Thiswasdueinpart to aninspectionundertaken Flows released downstream ofPoutu Intake were alsoslightly water waspassed over RangipoDaminto theTongariro River. maintenance occurred atRangipoPower Station andadditional September 2011–January2012.Duringthisperiod,planned due to asustained release ofwater from RangipoDamfrom downstream ofRangipoDamwere significantly above average in place) duringthereporting period(Figure 9).Flows directly calculated ifthepresent resource consent limitshadalways been slightly below average (compared to thelong-term meanas Flows intheupperTongariro River (above RangipoDam)were 4.1 HYDROLOGY

no diversion ofcontaminated water bodies,withparticular increase recreational rafting/kayaking opportunitythrough: improve thesedimentflushing regime oftheRangipoDam; maintain healthyecosystems downstream ofthestructures an agreement withWaikato RegionalCouncil’s Asset an agreement withDOCandtheRoyal Forest andBird an agreement withDOCthekey purposeofenhancing provision ofriver flow information viafree phoneand/or emphasis on: achieved by: funding contributions to bemadetowards Project Watershed. warning information for theTongariro River andagreed Management Group for Genesis Energy to provide flood Charitable Trust; formation oftheCentral NorthIslandBlueDuckConservation Protection Societywhichoutlinestherequirement for the the Tongariro trout fishery; Genesis Energy’s website;

real-time monitoring ofwater quality. the development ofaVolcanic Activity Management removal ofconstruction debrisasdefinedinthe a third partyagreement withLake Rotoaira Forest Trust recreational releases; third partyagreements withWhitewater NZandOPC; outcomes measured through themonitoring ofblue flushing flows (trigger-based); minimum flows; Plan (VAMP); Construction DebrisManagementPlan(CDMP). access viaKaimanawaRoadto Poutu Intake; to provide unrestricted recreational Monitoring Plan(TRMP). macro-invertebrates asdefinedinthe Tongariro River duck populations,water quality,periphyton growth and There are three consents thatrequire continuous

// 12

ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT ENVIRONMENTAL

FIGURE 9 // Tongariro River monitoring results for the reporting period. 19 20 TONGARIRO // 12 Poutu Intake WRC 103875(11) period didpHmeasurements fall below 6. Rotoaira whenpHfalls below 6.Atnotimeduringthereporting taken from theTongariro River viathePoutu Intake and into Lake pH atthePoutu CanalDiversion, to ensure thatwater isnot pH Monitoring Poutu DamDrumGate Testing WRC103881(5) Poutu DamWRC103879(5) Poutu Intake WRC103875(5) advice onGenesisEnergy’s hydrology web page. e-mail, phonecalls, newspapers andradio advertisements, and all Tongariro River stakeholders andcommercial river users via occurred duringApril2012(seeSection7.5).Notification included as aresult of,andpriorto, theTokaanu Tunnel inspectionthat Public notification ofhighflows inthe Tongariro River were made to ensure thatthey are operative andperform to therequired level. flow changesatthese structures. Thealarmsare tested regularly Poutu Intake andPoutu Damto warn downstream river users of Public Warning Wairehu CanalDischarge WRC103882(1) Moawhango Tunnel Discharge WRC103863(2) Council) clearly likely to exceed, themaximumcontrol level. if Lake Taupo exceeds, oris(intheopinionofWaikato Regional require GenesisEnergy to cease discharge from Moawhango Tunnel its maximumcontrol level of357.25masl.Thiscondition would There were alsonoevents thatresulted inLake Taupo risingabove Waikato RegionalCouncilandTaupo District Council. Poutu Intake exceeds 250m³/s,GenesisEnergy notifies staff at procedures. Once theflow onthe Tongariro River downstream of no floodswhichtriggered the Tongariro River floodwarning Flood Management Poutu Canalto Poutu Stream WRC103877(header,1) Poutu CanalDischarge WRC103878(header,1) Poutu Intake Take WRC103875(header,15) Waihohonu Discharge WRC103866(header,1) Waihohonu DamandTake WRC103864(header,1,2) Rangipo Power Station Discharge WRC103870(header,1) Rangipo Power Station Take WRC103867(header,3) Moawhango Tunnel Discharge WRC103863(header,1) the date ofcommencement oftheconsent. Spillway Crest, whichhasbeenmaintained at818.4metres since Specifically, thisalsoincludesnoalterations to theRangipoDam modifications have beenmade to anyofthese structures. specified in resource consents, basedondesigncriteria. No Maximum Flows 1 January–31January 1 November –31December 1 February–31 October Poutu Stream atFord Intake Tongariro River atD/SPoutu downstream Rangipo Tongariro River at Location flow compliance for the reporting period. TABLE 6//Tongariro River minimum GenesisEnergy maintains sensors whichdetect GenesisEnergy maintains audible alarmsat Several structures have maximumflow limits Duringthereporting period,there were

Minimum Minimum (m (m Flows Flows 0.45 3 3 0.3 0.6 0.6 /s) /s) 16 Compliance Compliance

99.98

100 100 100 100 (%) (%)

EW 103879 EW 103879 EW 103875 EW 103867 EW 103879 (condition) (condition) Number Number Consent Consent (1, 3) (2) (2) (4) (2) Tongariro Enhancement Fund viaaThird Party Agreement withthe from key technical experts andthrough theestablishment ofthe Tongariro SectionMonitoring Plan.Thiswork hasinvolved input comprehensive monitoring programme, co-ordinated through the Massey University andotherstakeholders 2005to develop a Taupo Fisherystaff, DOCthreatened speciesstaff, NIWA, Tongariro River. GenesisEnergy hasworked closely withDOC Good information iscritical to thefuture managementofthe 4.2 AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS ANDWATER QUALITY during thereporting period. within the±8%for 95%oftheyear. Thesite hadfullcompliance monitoring period.Non-compliance occurs whenthedata isnot number ofriver flow gaugingsundertaken atthesite duringthe River atDownstream Poutu Intake’ monitoring site, aswell asthe Table 7shows compliance withthiscondition onthe‘Tongariro requirements). of thetime(seeSection3.3.1for more detail ontheconsent Controllers observe iswithin ±8%ofthetrueflow for 95% maintained sothattheflow thatthepower station Generation flow rating curves (thatis,water level to flow relationships) are Flow Measurement Accuracy long filamentous algae coverage peaked at15.8%.Nuisance site compared to theothersampled sites, andinFebruary 2012 filamentous algae coverage wasgenerally highest attheRangipo however, lower thanatthethree sites below RangipoDam. Long and long filamentous algaeatthe Waipakihi control site was, monitored sites. Periphyton biomass andcoverage ofthickmat and wasgenerally well below theMfEguidelinesatallfour Periphyton coverage and biomass wassimilarto previous years which are: (MfE) Guidelinesfor theprotection oftrout habitat andangling, remove periphyton are definedbytheMinistry for theEnvironment Periphyton reported byTonkin &Taylor (2012). at Puketarata confluence,’ and‘Tongariro atJudges Pool’ are including; , downstream RangipoDam,‘Tongariro invertebrates atthefour monitoring sites ontheTongariro River Results for thereporting period for periphyton andmacro- period are summarisedinFigure 9. Monitoring results for theTongariro Sectionduringthereporting and nuisance periphyton build-ups. is undermost stress from warmerwater temperatures, low flows undertaken annually inMarch –theperiodwhenriver ecology 200 m³/satTurangi occur. Quantitative assessments are also floods larger than40m³/sdownstream ofRangipoDamand periphyton isundertaken monthly, except duringmonthswhere Semi-quantitative monitoring ofmacro-invertebrates and Rangipo DamWRC103867(10) build-up ofperiphyton. density; andtheeffectiveness offlushingflows on removing any macro-invertebrates; trout growth; whio(blueduck)numbers and River are: theeffects oftheflow regime onperiphyton growth; Key matters addressed through monitoring ontheTongariro DOC Taupo Fishery. Poutu Intake Tongariro River at Location

compliance for thereporting period. TABLE 7//Tongariro River andrating curve ash-free drymass (AFDM)( chlorophyll abiomass ( greater than60%cover bymats3mmthick;or greater than30%cover byfilaments longer than2cm;or Trigger points for whenflushingflows are required to % time within ± 8% 97.9

> 200mg/m²);and Resource consents require that Compliance compliance > 35g/m²). Full Number gaugings

13 of

EW 103875 Consent number

Waitahanui rivers. signs ontheTongariro, -Taupo, Hinemaiaiaand also beenusedtowards replacing fishingaccess andinformation Contributions from theTongariro River Enhancement Fund have of theTongariro River, downstream oftheState Highwaybridge. Stream andthecreation ofananglingaccess along thetrueleft are working withTurangitukua over restoration oftheHirangi In additionto theresearch programmes describedabove, DOC densities rainbow trout are likely to shift to bullies and other prey items. relationship willallow mangers to determine atwhat(low) smelt Taupo versus theabundance oftrout (figure 11).Understanding this managers to robustly describethetrend insmeltdensityLake DOC alsohasanew echo-sounding methodthatallows fishery will continue until2014. significant prey item for adultbrown trout (figure 10).This project results sofar suggests thatjuvenile rainbow trout are probably a in brown trout andintheirmajorprey species.Theanalysis ofthe Research isalsoon-goinginto thedistribution ofstable isotopes of theinvestigation. some impactoffishing,sothey are pursuing furtherwiththispart fish. The results are unclear andfisherymanagers cannotrule out is to determine iflake fishingisselectively removing early running such aprogramme inthelonger term. Anotherpartofthisproject However, there are someimplications concerning theviabilityof from Lakes Tarawera and/orOtamangakau isvery unlikely. affecting Taupo trout byreleasing juvenile, early runningtrout Dr. ElizabethHeegstrongly suggest thattheriskofnegatively in Taupo Rivers. Theresults ofgeneticmodellingcarried outby of stimulating areturn oftheearly spawningrunofrainbow trout One ofthemajorareas ofinvestigation isto assess thefeasibility was primarily usedonkey fisheries research programmes. Trout Studies Puketarata andJudgesPool sites. were higherattheWaipakihi andRangiposites compared to the to 2011data. MCI(Macro-invertebrate CommunityIndex) scores site. Densitiesandspeciesrichness values were allcomparable below theRangipoDamcompared to theWaipakihi reference total densitiesandEPTrichness tended to behigheratthesites Quantitative samplinginMarch 2012found thattaxa richness, stone attheRangiposite wassimilarto theWaipakihi control site. site andtheRangiposite. Themeantotal numberofindividualsper number ofindividualsperstone compared to theWaipakihi control Rangipo Damwere found to have asignificantly greater mean total (see Section4.3).ThePuketarata andJudgesPool sites below flow gauge)andthe corresponding RangipoDamsluicing event m³/s attheWaipakihi flow gaugeand348.12m³/satthe Turangi and December corresponded withhighflows inOctober (127.79 example, lower percentages ofEPTtaxa atallsites inNovember appeared to correspond to thehighflow events thatoccurred. For invertebrates were variable throughout theyear andtrends Macro-invertebrates these sites, given theChlorophyll alevels. unlikely to reflect high levels ofnuisance periphyton build-upat (eg., sticks, leaves, fungi,bryophytes, etc) sothisexceedence is between organic material sourced from algaeandothersources 87.1 g/m²and38.2respectively). AFDMdoesnotdistinguish and Puketarata bothexceeded theMfEguideline of35g/m²(at quantitative measurements oftheAFDMfound thatJudgesPool were recorded attheJudgesPool site with12.24mg/m².However, showed allsites were withinMfEguidelines.Thehighest levels The quantitative measurements ofchlorophyll ainMarch 2012 throughout themonitoring period. at thethree othersites remained well below MfEguidelines periphyton levels (bothlong filamentous algaeandthickmats) This year, theTongariro River Enhancement Fund

Monthly semi-quantitative data for macro- Section 8.1.1). undertaking extensive predator trapping along theriver (alsosee Poutu Intake andState Highway1,where acommunity project is to annualwhiomonitoring onthelower Tongariro River between December 2018.Inthemeantime,GenesisEnergy iscontributing Tongariro River every ten years, with thenext survey to occur in involve more extensive catchment-wide surveys oftheupper The new whiomonitoring regime for theRangiporeach will as adirect result oftheTPSmitigationpackage. national whiopopulationhasgrown bymore than10%(300ducks) rivers (seeSection5.2.1)andatTaranaki (seeSection7.2).The by significantly increasing whio populationson Western Diversion Central NorthIslandBlueDuckConservation Charitable Trust, river since 1983hasbeensuccessfully mitigated, through the The potential loss of five orsixpairs ofwhiofrom thissectionof lower, whiopopulationintheRangiporeach (below theDam). commissioning ofRangipoDamin1983,showing astable, though monitoring in2009.There isnow 25years ofannualdata since the consent for theupperTongariro River to modifythewhio Blue Duck to investigate thisissue River. DOCare usingpartoftheTongariro River Enhancement Fund having animpactonrainbow trout recruitment intheTongariro FIGURE 10//Large predatory brown trout like thisone,maybe FIGURE 11//Echo-graph ofsmeltandtrout inLake Taupo GenesisEnergy wasgranted avariation to itsresource

21 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 22 TONGARIRO // 12 obtained thegate wasadjusted immediately andtheflow was flow attheheadoftunnel to settle. Once anindication ofthiswas to record zero flow untilthegate isopenedsufficiently forthe at theheadoftunnel.Thisinturn causes themonitoring site effect ofthegate beingopenedwhichcauses extreme velocities Poutu Canalwasbeingreinstated. Thisisdue to thehydraulic It shouldbenoted thataminornon-compliance occurred asthe a comparison withthevariable resource consent limit. Channel. Figure 13shows how muchwater wasbeing diverted and sediment from beingdeposited into thePoutu CanalandRotoaira can bediverted atPoutu Intake following aflush to prevent flushed Resource Consent103875(condition 6)defineshow muchwater the flush event andthatfull compliance wasachieved. Figure 12shows theoperation ofRangipoPower Station during based onturbidityofthewater asmeasured atPoutu Intake. generation can occur atRangipoPower Station following aflush Resource Consent103867(condition 16)defineshow much approximately 101m³/s.Theflow for this event peaked at128m³/s. approximately 6:30amwhentheflow upstream ofthedamwas On 12October 2011,theRangipoSluice Gates were openedat Rangipo Damwasflushedonce duringthe reporting period. inflows up to two daysinadvance. generates data updates in15-minute time-steps andpredicts site isupstream ofRangipoDamandtheinflow forecast model monitoring site andrainfall data. TheTongariro River atWaipakihi flushing shouldoccur usingthe Tongariro River at Waipakihi Energy hasdeveloped amethodology for determining when To assist withthepre-emptive release ofsediment,Genesis that resembles theriver’s natural flood recession. Rangipo Power Station andPoutu Intake following aflushinway sediment plumethrough thesystem, andthento reinstate sediment early inafloodsothatthewave “pushes”the The purposeoftheflushing regime for RangipoDamis to release sediment iseffectively routed through theTongariro River. This regime alsorequires thePoutu Intake to beshutsothatthe dam andistransported through theTongariro River to Lake Taupo. sediment through theriver. Sedimentisscoured from behindthe forecast to exceed 100m³/s,inorder to maximisethetransfer of inflows are greater than60m³/supstream ofthedamandare the effect offlushingflows, flushes are only undertaken when times whenthissedimentisflushedfrom thedam. To minimise be undernatural conditions orinflood conditions, except during the timeflow downstream ofthedamisclearer thanit would accumulation behindtheRangipoDam.For thevast majorityof sediment dynamicsoftheTongariro River andresult insediment The reduced flow velocities inRangipoDamhave changedthe 4.3 SEDIMENT(EROSION,TRANSPORTANDDEPOSITION) October 2011. FIGURE 12//RangipoPower Station flushing compliance, 12 Legal access to theupperTongariro River isextremely limited, 4.4 RECREATION ANDTOURISM Poutu Intake WRC103875(6) Rangipo DamWRC103867(14,15,16,17) indication to theGeneration Controllers inthefuture. differently inthisharsh tunnelenvironment to provide abetter is on-goingasto how thewater level could bemeasured returned to compliant levels assoonpossible. Aninvestigation Tongariro River duringthereporting period(Table 8). Three recreational flow release weekends were heldonthe Poutu Intake WRC103875(7) Rangipo DamWRC103867(7) signage andpublicnotification isinplace. Whitewater NZandfisherygroups to ensure thatappropriate importance. GenesisEnergy hasbeenworking closely with recreational releases anddownstream river users, isof critical Public safety, bothinterms ofthosepeople participatinginthe kayakers andrafters can make themost oftheincreased flows. The timingofthesereleases issetwell inadvance sothat from Poutu Intake, whichcoincide withtheRangipoDamreleases. m³/s six-hourreleases are provided onthelower Tongariro River duration onseparate weekends from RangipoDamandtwo 30 Poutu Intake. Three 30m³/sflows are released for eighthours agreed to provide recreational releases from RangipoDamand Edmund HillaryOutdoorPursuits Centre (OPC),GenesisEnergy In 2000,through consultation withWhitewater NZandtheSir Access 10). and commercial groups viaKaimanawaRoad(otherwiseknown as unrestricted access to theTongariro River for bothrecreational Forest Trust, involving thepaymentofanannualfee, to provide Genesis Energy hasanagreement withtheLake Rotoaira as most ofthekey access roads are private roads. However, FIGURE 13//Poutu Intake flushing compliance, 12October 2011.

Intake releases (Figure 14). and rafters waspositive for boththeRangipoDamandPoutu people attended eachoftherelease days.Feedback from kayakers were actively promoted byWhitewater NZ,andmore than100 The release weekends were, asalways, highly successful. They releases were fully compliant. from Poutu intake andRangipoDam,respectively. Bothofthese On 4and5February 2012,recreational flows were released health andsafety reasons. Whitewater NZto allow for therelease to bepostponed dueto were subsequently reviewed andupdated, inconsultation with River below RangipoDam.GenesisEnergy’s operating procedures event, whichcontributed uncontrollable flows to the Tongariro 8 hours and15minutes. Therelease coincided withahighrainfall were received, andanaverage flow of42.14 m³/swas released for flow wasnot reached until08:25am.Despite this,no complaints scheduled to start at08:00am;however theminimum30m³/s yet wasnon-compliant for therelease start time.Therelease was Rangipo Damwascompliant interms ofrelease duration andflow, with resource consent 103875,condition 7(b).Therelease from Dam. Norelease from Poutu Intake wasrequired inaccordance On 8January2012arecreational flow was released from Rangipo the September releases were fully compliant. Rangipo Damon17and18September 2011,respectively. Bothof Recreational releases were released from Poutu Intake and Saturday 04February 2012 2011 Saturday 17September Poutu Intake Sunday 05February 2012 Sunday 08January2012 Sunday 18September 2011 Rangipo Dam Release location anddate release (Photo: MattBennett). FIGURE 14//RaftingtheTongariro River duringarecreational releases duringthereporting period. TABLE 8//Tongariro recreational flow Average (m 30.78 30.54 32.55 42.14 Flow 31.7 3 /s) 6 hrs 10min 6 hrs 10min 8 hrs 20min 8 hrs 15min 8 hrs 10min Duration (hrs) Compliance compliance compliance compliance compliance compliance Minor non- Full Full Full Full aligned withtheCentral NorthIslandresponse plan. precautions taken duringtherecreational releases are carefully is focussed onchangingthebehaviourofriver users andthe develop aCentral NorthIslandresponse to didymo.Theresponse & Game,Whitewater NZandtheTuwharetoa MaoriTrust Board to Genesis Energy hasalsocontinued to work closely withDOC,Fish of didymospreading to theNorthIsland(seeSection8.5). educate thecommunity aboutaquaticweeds andreduce therisk measures are partofGenesisEnergy’s on-goingcommitment to points ontheriver. Thedidymodecontamination andeducation stations were provided byGenesisEnergy atallinputandexit ways to clean equipment.Duringthereleases, decontamination on therisksofdidymoandotheraquaticweeds andeffective continued to work closely withWhitewater NZto educate kayakers weeds beingtransferred into thearea. GenesisEnergy has recreational releases, there maybeanincreased riskofaquatic With manyvisitors coming to theTongariro River for the

23 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 24 TONGARIRO // 12 05 DIVERSION WESTERN 05 WESTERN DIVERSION Lakes Te Whaiau and Otamangakau were formed as part of the TPS, and have since become renowned as a trophy trout fishery. The Western Diversion is located in the headwaters of the The consultation process and subsequent outcomes ensured that Whanganui River. This part of the Whanganui catchment is located these values are maintained. primarily within the and the Tongariro Forest Park, both of which are highly valued for their ecology, No meaningful dialogue was established with Whanganui River recreation, and by tangata whenua for their cultural and spiritual Iwi until 2010 when the parties entered into lengthy but very values and as a food source. Sections within the catchment area constructive discussions. The relationship agreement signed in have been severely modified through logging operations, exotic December 2010 between Whanganui River Iwi and Genesis Energy forestry, farming and urban development. The Western Diversion paves the way for Whanganui River Iwi and Genesis Energy to work diverts water from eight tributary rivers and streams of the upper together on initiatives and other issues relating to the health and Whanganui River, including the main stem of the Whanganui River, wellbeing of the Whanganui River (see Section 5.3.3). through two man-made hydro lakes (Te Whaiau and Otamangakau). Key outcomes of the consultative process for the Western A significant amount of research and consultation has been Diversion were: undertaken on the rivers, streams and lakes of the Western Diversion to determine the effects of the ongoing operation of the maintain healthy ecosystems downstream of intake Tongariro Power Scheme (TPS). Where appropriate, changes have structures through: been made to power scheme operations, monitoring programmes continuing minimum flows downstream of the have been established or enhanced, or mitigation has been Whakapapa Intake and on the Whanganui River undertaken. Generally, additional monitoring is undertaken where at Te Maire; there has been a change to the operations resulting from the new minimum flows downstream of the Whanganui and consultative process, or where further monitoring is required Mangatepopo intakes; to fully understand effects over the long term. Details of the measuring outcomes through the monitoring of blue consultation process and monitoring undertaken are described in duck, water quality, periphyton growth and macro- the Tongariro Power Development Assessment of Environmental invertebrates as defined in the Western Diversion Effects (2000). Further details can be found in subsequent Monitoring Plan. monitoring reports. increase recreational rafting/kayaking opportunity through: In order to maintain healthy and functioning ecosystems downstream of the diversions, minimum flows on both the recreational releases; Whakapapa and Whanganui rivers, implemented as a result of agreements with the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor the 1991 Whanganui River Minimum Flows Hearing, have been Pursuits Centre (OPC) and Whitewater New Zealand with maintained. Additional minimum flows have been implemented the common purpose of enhancing downstream of both the Mangatepopo and Whanganui intakes, to recreational canoeing/rafting opportunities. enhance the amount of habitat available for freshwater ecology, including native fish and blue ducks. // 12

ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT ENVIRONMENTAL

FIGURE 15 // Western Diversion monitoring sites. 25 26 TONGARIRO // 12 environmental impactsidentified. minor, bothinterms ofmagnitude andduration, withnoadverse sites duringthereporting period(Table 9).Non-compliances were A highlevel ofminimumflow compliance hasbeenachieved atall natural character andvisualamenityofthesestreams. releases alsoprovide significant enhancement to theecology, indicator speciesofahealthyin-stream habitat). Theseflow to provide for aquaticandblueduckhabitat (blueduckare an from theMangatepopo andWhanganuiintakes, respectively, Continuous minimumflows of0.5m³/sand0.3are released months eachsummer/autumn. water beingdiverted from theWestern Diversion for upto two each year. Maintaining thisminimumflow typically results inno the WhanganuiRiver atTe Maire from December to May(inclusive) Whakapapa Intake. Aminimumflow of29m³/smust bemeton continuous minimumflow of3m³/sisprovided below the intakes, minimumflows are released at key locations. A degree, thequantityofhabitat available downstream ofthe Minimum Flows average (124%compared to thelong-term mean)for theyear. flows attheWhakapapaRiver at Footbridge site to beabove water could betaken from theWestern Diversion. Thiscaused inspection oftheTokaanu Tunnel inApril2012meantthatno River atTe Maire recording site from December to May. An a flow of29m³/s to bemaintained downstream attheWhanganui minimum flow consent MWRC101282(condition 7)which requires with theTe Maire minimumflow. Thisisa requirement ofthe for large periodsoftimeduring February –April2012to comply Whakapapa Intake wasturnedout,eitherpartially orcompletely, As aresult ofslightly below average autumninflows the (see Figure 15). the present resource consent limitshadalways beeninplace) average whencompared to long-term meanflows (calculated asif Flows downstream oftheintake structures were average orbelow low intensity nature ofthisrainfall there were few flood events. catchment for thereporting period,however, dueto thepersitent There wasslightly above average rainfall intheupperWhanganui 5.1 HYDROLOGY

an agreement withDOCandRoyal Forest andBird Society an agreement withAuckland/Waikato RegionFish&Gameto an agreement withtheWhanganuiandRuapehuDistrict the establishment ofarelationship agreement with provision ofriver flow information viaafree phonenumber no diversion ofcontaminated water bodies,withparticular their habitat, particularly inthecentral NorthIsland. to protect, enhance andpromote blueduckpopulationsand within therivers andstreams oftheWestern Diversion; address issues resulting from theloss offishingopportunity the WhanganuiRiver; Councils withakey objective ofenhancingthewater qualityof Whanganui River Iwi; and/or visitGenesisEnergy’s website; emphasis on:

real-time monitoring ofwater quality. development ofaVolcanic ActivityManagement Plan (VAMP); To maintain thequalityand,to asignificant

Whanganui Intake MWRC101288(header,1,2) Te WhaiauCanalMWRC101287(header,1) Mangatepopo Intake MWRC101286(header,1,2) Tawhitikuri Intake MWRC101285(header,1,2) Taurewa Intake MWRC101284(header,1,2) Okupata Intake MWRC101283(header,1,2) Whakapapa Intake MWRC101282(header,1) flow capacities have occurred to anyofthese structures. modifications that could have resulted inchanges to themaximum specified in resource consents, basedondesigncriteria. No Maximum Flows the resource consent. TheOtamangakau valve isonly usedwhen focussed onthetimeswhere thevalve isinuse,asspecified Whanganui River atOtamangakau site. Thereporting isnow Genesis Energy hasreviewed how itreports compliance for the Footbridge sites. Whanganui River atDownstream Intake andWhakapapaRiver at Full compliance wasachieved atthe WhanganuiRiver atTe Maire, data isnotwithin±8%for 95%oftheyear. during themonitoring period.Non-compliance occurs whenthe well asthenumberofriver flow gaugingsundertaken ateachsite Table 10shows thelevel ofcompliance withtheseconditions, as Section 3.3.1for more detail ontheconsent requirements). observe isto within±8%ofthetrueflow for 95%ofthetime(see maintained sothattheflow thepower station Generation Controllers flow rating curves (thatis,water level to flow relationships) are Flow Measurement Accuracy Wairehu CanalWRC103882(header) Te WhaiauDamMWRC101292(header) Te WhaiauDamMWRC101291(header) Te WhaiauDamMWRC101290(header,1) Te WhaiauCulvert MWRC101289(header,1) Whanganui River at Te Maire Downstream Intake Whanganui River at Downstream Intake Mangatepopo Stream at Footbridge at at Te Maire Whanganui River at Otamangakau Whanganui River Intake at Downstream Whanganui River at Footbridge Whakapapa River Location Location compliance for thereporting period. TABLE 10//WhanganuiRiver catchment rating curve at Te Maire must be29m³/sfrom 1December -31 Mayeachyear. for thereporting period.*Theminimumflow oftheWhanganuiRiver TABLEWhanganui River 9//catchment minimumflow compliance Several structures have maximumflow limits % time within ± 8% 100 100 92 99 Compliance compliance compliance compliance Resource consents require that Minimum Compliant (m Flows Non- 3 29* 0.3 0.5 Full Full Full /s) 3

Compliance of gaugings

Number

99.87 99.99

100 100 (%)

10 13 6 5 101282 (10) (condition) (7, 8,9,10)

101288 (6) 101282 (5) 101294 (3) Number Consent Consent number (4, 5,6) (4, 5,6) (2, 3,4) 101282 101288 101286 101282 MWRC MWRC MWRC MWRC MWRC MWRC MWRC MWRC Intake inMarch 2012. of Chlorophyll aof29.37mg/m²wasfound above theWhanganui (Chlorophyll alevels of Manawatu Wanganui RegionalCouncil’s proposed OnePlan Whanganui Rivers were allwell below thetarget values inthe period. Periphyton levels intheMangatepopo, Whakapapaand intake structures. Thistrend wasalsoapparent for thisreporting very low inallthree rivers, bothupstream anddownstream ofthe Previous years’ data showed thatperiphyton levels were generally stream monitoring withintheManawatuWanganui Region. sampling methods(SHMAK),to be more consistent withotherin- sampling methodsare now usedasopposedto semi-quantitative 2010-11 samplingyear compared to previous years. Quantitative the Mangatepopo, Whakapapaand Whanganuirivers changedinthe Periphyton reported byTonkin &Taylor (2012). periphyton andmacro-invertebrates for thereporting periodare results duringthereporting period.Monitoring results for See Figures 16and17for theWestern Diversion monitoring nuisance periphyton build-ups. most stress from warmerwater temperatures, low flows and summer/autumn annually -theperiodwhenriver ecology isunder Mangatepopo andWhanganuiIntakes ononeoccasion inlate occurs atsites upstream anddownstream ofthe Whakapapa, Quantitative monitoring ofperiphyton andmacro-invertebrates Whakapapa Intake MWRC101282(18,19) invertebrates, blueduck,trout andnative fish. in Section5.1andincludesmonitoring ofperiphyton, macro- to measure theresults oftheminimumflow releases outlined The Western Diversion Monitoring Planhasbeendeveloped 5.2.1 WESTERNDIVERSIONMONITORING PLAN 5.2 AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS ANDWATER QUALITY lake edgefishingduringthespring. request from DOCto killtheweed andallow for better access to aquatic weed onthelake margins. Thisoccurs astheresult ofa levels were alsodrawn down duringwinter to allow frosting of allowed. To helpmanagetheencroachment ofaquaticweed, lake angling (around 610.10masl)whenever operational constraints levels were once againmanipulated to provide optimumlevels for Otamangakau operating range (Table 11).Duringsummer,lake Lake Levels Otamangakau DamMWRC101294(1,3) with thisconsent. rating change.GenesisEnergy isreviewing itsabilityto comply reflects theimpractical timeframe currently required to apply a duration thatthevalve isopenfor. The92%compliance statistic during thistime.Thecompliance level isdependentonthe inclusive andassuchthisvalve isonly required to beoperated The Te Maire minimumflow periodisfrom December to May released viatheOtamangakau valve into theWhanganuicatchment. water circulation for thefisheryinlakes. Thiswater isthen is routed through Lakes Te WhaiauandOtamangakau to maintain Whanganui River atTe Maire minimumflow. Asmallamountofflow water isnotbeingtaken from theWestern Diversion to meetthe level Maximum level Minimum Parameter for thereporting period. TABLE 11//Lake Otamangakau level compliance The samplingprotocols oftheperiphyton monitoring for There wasahighlevel of compliance withtheLake 610.75 (Nov-Mar) 610.50 (Apr-Oct)

Value (masl) < 50mg/m²atallsites). Thehighest value 611.98 Compliance 100 100 (%)

MWRC 101293(1,3) MWRC 101293(1) Consent Number (condition) result oftheWestern Diversion. effects to in-stream habitat onthosestreams monitored asa Overall, themonitoring results indicate nosignificant adverse found atallmonitoring sites withintheWestern Diversion. community scores continue to reflect the low periphyton levels on theWestern Diversion, andtheexcellent macro-invertebrate score occurred above theWhakapapaIntake. High%EPTvalues high, indicative ofexcellent habitat andwater quality. Thehighest Macro-invertebrate community scores atallsites remained very and WhanganuiRivers, densitieswere greater below theintakes. Whakapapa Intake compared to below. ButontheMangatepopo Total densitiesofmacro-invertebrates were greater above the was againapparent for allsites duringthisreporting period. indicates thatthevery high%EPTrecorded inprevious monitoring year’s data. However, ageneral comparison ofindex values years are nolonger comparable statistically withthepresent made upoftwo replicates. Thismeansthatdata from previous samples were collected ateachsite instead ofacomposite sample Manawatu Wanganui RegionalCouncil.Five individualquantitative were madeduringthereporting period,attherequest of quantitative samplingmethods(SHMAK).Further modifications sampling methodsnow usedasopposedto theprevious semi- macro-invertebrates alsooccurred in2010-11withquantitative Macro-invertebrates reporting period. FIGURE 16//WhakapapaRiver monitoring results duringthe Changesto samplingprotocols for the

27 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 FIGURE 17 // Mangatepopo Stream and Whanganui River monitoring results during the reporting period.

Whio (Blue Duck) Annual whio (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos) This year showed the breeding potential of the Western Diversion surveys, as per the Western Diversion Monitoring Plan, began on population in the absence of floods and with effective predator the Western Diversion rivers in 2003, with one other replicable control measures in place (trapping and aerial 1080). This is now survey completed in 1998. The rivers surveyed include the a long-term dataset, with eight surveys since minimum flows Mangatepopo, Whanganui and Whakapapa. These surveys were established in December 2004. Pair numbers have increased initially served to determine the distribution patterns of blue substantially over time, and productivity has spiked in years with duck downstream of the intake structures, and to assess the stable flows and predator control. effectiveness of minimum flows established in 2004. In recent years the focus of the surveys has changed to understanding the population response to ongoing predator control.

The annual monitoring results from whio population surveys on the Western Diversion of the TPS are reported by DOC (Beath, 2012). The survey area includes river sections both within and downstream of the Tongariro Forest Whio Security Site (see Section 7.2).

Two surveys were completed by DOC staff in late November and December 2011 on each river reach. On the 47.9 km of river surveyed, 91 pairs of blue duck were recorded. This is an increase of 15 pairs from the previous year, and the total number of pairs has increased threefold since 1998 (from 30 pairs). Pair densities are now very high in some reaches, with the average territory length on one of the Whanganui reaches being less than 200 m.

// 12 The Whanganui River and Mangatepopo Stream have shown a

dramatic upwards trend in pair numbers since minimum flows were established in December 2004. This season was a record year for duckling production, with 179 ducklings (Figure 18) counted. There FIGURE 18 // Whio parent and chicks. were four contributing factors to the high productivity:

Stable winter flows resulting in high invertebrate numbers; Stable flows during nesting and brood rearing; Genesis Energy is working with DOC to review the frequency of TONGARIRO An aerial 1080 operation by the Animal Health Board whio monitoring on the Western Diversion of the TPS now that throughout Tongariro Forest; and the population is clearly thriving under the current management Predator trapping along the rivers. regime. The monitoring frequency is presently being reviewed and 28 may be reduced to three-yearly surveys. observed againduringthisyear’s dive with11 metres ofvisibility. section below thefootbridge. Very clear water conditions were in February 2012ontheupperWhakapapa River over a2.5km Population surveys during thereporting periodinclude: Programme results reported byAuckland/Waikato Fish&Game the agreement are to: were asignificant proportion ofthenatural flow. Key objectives of significant benefits tothefishery would only occurifthe releases more appropriate thanarelease ofadditionalwater, asany /Waikato Fish&GameCouncil.Thiswasconsidered by undertaking enhancement measures inpartnership withthe mitigated thereduction oftrout numbers intheWhakapapaRiver in habitat asaresult ofthelower flows. GenesisEnergy has trout populationsbelow theWhakapapaIntake dueto areduction The initialoperation oftheTPSresulted inadecrease ofrainbow 5.2.2 TROUT the streams andwatercourses oftheWestern Diversions. regime willbeadequate to monitor fishpopulationsthatinhabit physical changesto thehabitat occur, athree to five year sampling now beenrecolonised byfish.NIWA recommend that,unless that theareas where new minimumflows were established have Based upontheresults ofsurveys undertaken to date, itisclear altitude, inlandsites. intakes remains atalow level, thisischaracteristic ofsuchhigh abundance andspeciesrichness offishinthe reaches below the mere 100mminlength, wasrecorded sofar upstream. Although recruitment. Itisofinterest thatajuvenile shortfinnedeel,a A goodsizerange ofeelswasrecorded indicating regular a single shortfinnedeelbeingpresent within thearea surveyed. surveyed, withonly rainbow trout, brown trout, longfinned eelsand A low densityoffishwas recorded atmost oftheeleven sites management andmonitoring attheTPS(Figure19). the survey to share knowledge andawareness ofresource consent This year, members ofNgatiHikairo kiTongariro were involved in undertaken in1999aspartofthere-consenting process. results were compared withprevious studies, especially thesurvey been undertaken since theimplementation ofminimumflows. The This survey was the fourth in a series of planned surveys which have et al.2012). the Western Diversion oftheTPSare reported byNIWA (Baldwin Fish Surveys

Whakapapa Intake. ki Tongariro assist NIWA staff withfishsurveys below the FIGURE 19//JohnKonuiandAnaruTurner from NgatiHikairo support abilityto meetstatutory responsibility. enhance anglingopportunities; mitigate theeffects oftheTPSontrout habitat; Theresults ofthethree-yearly fishsurvey on The annualdriftdive survey wascarried out

However thefisheryismonitored byanalysing results from Water clarityintheWhanganuiRiver istoo low for driftdiving. capacity underexisting conditions. trout numbers butnumbers maynow beapproaching carrying drift-diving. Inrecent years, there hasbeenatrend ofincreasing well withinthevariability between surveys thatisexpected with Figure 20)butthedeclinewasnotstatistically significant andis Trout numbers were slightly down from theprevious year (seeto 2011/12 fishingseason. trout tagged intheWhanganuiheadwaters over the Tagging Survey area include: the Whanganuiheadwaters. FishandGameactivitiesinthis Angler access been settled. headwaters isonholduntilaccess issues inthecatchment have to licence holders. Anew fishing pamphlet for theWhanganui & Gamemagazine.Early intheseasonanewsletter wassent magazine Reellife -theAuckland/Waikato Supplement oftheFish Whakapapa andWhanganuirivers witharticles intheinternet Publicity recruitment inthissectionoftheWhanganuiRiver. rainbows andbrowns, indicating thatthere ismore thanadequate the 2012competition caught manyfishinthe1+ year-class, both no declineinfishnumbers inthelast four years. Competitors at fish inthissectionoftheWhanganuiRiver andthatthere hasbeen previous competitions suggests thatthere are highnumbers of during 153hours offishing.A comparison of catch rates with was heldinApril2012whenseventeen anglers caught 622trout river upstream from . Themost recent competition Zealand (Inc)whoholdcatch-and-release competitions onthe the regular fishing competitions heldbySportFly FishingNew

undertaken byFish&Game since 1994. Whakapapa River asobserved onfifteen annualdriftdive surveys FIGURE 20//Numberoflarge trout perkilometre oftheupper Advocated for angler access withlocal landowners. As aconsequence ofoursubmission to theRuapehuDistrict Met withtheWalking Access Commission inNationalPark to angler access/information signsasapermitted activity. Council, theDistrict Planhasauthorisedtheerection of discuss access issues inthelocal district. Publicity wasgiven to fishingopportunitiesinthe Angler access hasbecome themainissue fo The tagging survey continued with31wild

29 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 TABLE 12 // Whanganui River Enhancement Charitable Trust result areas during the reporting period.

Project Objective Result Areas Horizons – Water Quality To promote water quality enhancement Move to a WRET dedicated (and funded) MWRC staff member at Enhancement Project in the Whanganui catchment by targeting Taumarunui who reports jointly to MWRC and the WRET Chair, erosion “hotspots”, implementing farm plans starting 1 July 2012 and education.

33 new erosion programmes approved

16 new erosion programmes completed/ claimed

Treat land for erosion reduction (8ha)

River Enhancement Funding To promote projects in the Whanganui Tawata Whanau Trust - Fencing for the Tawata Sanctuary Project - social, economic and catchment that are focused on social, environmental projects economic and environmental outcomes Integrated Catchment Management for Whanganui River that relate to the use and enjoyment of the Tributary - study into the Awarua stream fish species Whanganui River or its tributaries and show clear benefit to a wide component of the Replacement of part of the boundary fence at Hipango Park community. Tuhua Hikurangi RMC - Te Taiawhio Environmental Plan

Te Poho o Matapihi Trust - Awarua Stream water quality enhancement. Ngati Rangi Trust and Whanganui River Maori Trust Board - Fish passage in the lower Whanganui and the Manganui-o-te-ao.

Matahiwi Marae River Enhancement Project

Channel Markers: Port to

Kakahi Community group - Piwai Street River Access

Waimarie Operating Trust - Whanganui Riverboat Museum Re- development display

Education Scholarships To offer research grants to graduate Emily Farquhar - BSc (Hons) at Massey students studying in the Whanganui - N a t i ve F i s h s u r vey o f A w a r u a S t re a m ; catchment or in a field of research of value Max Arrowsmith - MSc (Waikato) Potential for targeted to the river catchment. Phosphorus application in hill country to maximise efficiency of fertiliser use.

5.2.3 WHANGANUI RIVER ENHANCEMENT TRUST 5.3 RECREATION AND TOURISM

To assist wider community aspirations for enhancing the 5.3.1 RECREATIONAL RELEASES Whanganui River, Genesis Energy, the Wanganui District Council (WDC) and Ruapehu District Council (RDC) have formed the The reduced flow on the Whakapapa River has limited recreational Whanganui River Enhancement Charitable Trust (2003) (WRET). opportunities on this river. In recognition of this there are two Genesis Energy provides funds annually to allow the Trust to meet recreational releases per year on dedicated weekends when the its objectives. natural flow of the Whakapapa River exceeds 16 m³/s, and for a period of 8 hours the full flow is released. The Trust aims to: The timing of these releases is set well in advance so that promote enhancement of the quality of waters and catchment kayakers and rafters can utilise the opportunity as well as of the Whanganui River; possible. If the flow on the set release date is not expected to make funding available for social, economic and reach the required 16 m³/s, the release is deferred to the following environmental river enhancement projects; day. If there is still insufficient flow, the release is cancelled. contribute to education about the health and well-being of the Genesis Energy liaises with Whitewater NZ which regularly Whanganui River. updates its website, www.rivers.org, on the status of releases. Whakapapa Intake MWRC 101282 (6) The three-year strategic plan (2009-12) outlining the major funding initiatives that the Trust is supporting continued to be Recreational releases on the Whakapapa River were planned for implemented during the reporting period. Table 12 identifies key Saturday 3rd and Saturday 24th of September 2011. Unfortunately projects underway and the outcomes to date. on both of these days, as well as the back-up days on the Sunday, there were insufficient natural flows for the releases to go ahead. A key highlight for the reporting period was the development of a Therefore both of the recreational releases on the Whakapapa WRET dedicated Manawatu Wanganui Regional Council (MWRC) River scheduled for the reporting period were cancelled. staff position based at Taumarunui to focus on catchment work

// 12 5.3.2 RECREATIONAL INITIATIVES in the Upper Ohura and Waikaka catchments. The position will be funded by WRET and the staff member will report jointly to the appropriate MWRC manager and to the Trust Chair. It is hoped OPC Genesis Kayak Education Fund The Sir Edmund Hillary that the position will allow for more focused delivery of WRET Outdoor Pursuits Centre (OPC) raised concerns that reduced flows water quality outcomes. were limiting recreational opportunities on the Western Diversion rivers. In addition to the recreational releases, Genesis Energy The Trust also entered into scholarship agreements for financial agreed to provide educational opportunities through the OPC support to two Masters students enrolled at Massey University Genesis Energy Kayak Education Fund. The fund was established TONGARIRO and the University of Waikato, investigating various aspects of in 2003 and aims to: river management with direct application to the Whanganui River catchment. provide sponsorship for students and teachers to attend kayak courses at OPC; 30 run workshops on advanced techniques and/or provide funding for instructors to attend courses elsewhere in New implement all three documents. process ofsharingknowledge anddeveloping awork planto A wanangawasheldatPungarehu Marae inMayto beginthe April 2012. Relationship Agreement. These furtherdocumentswere signedin a Resourcing Agreement (HeiWhakamahinga)to supportthe Initiatives Agreement (HeiWhaingaKiTe ManaOTe Awa)and Work continued duringthereporting periodto develop bothan the WhanganuiRiver. initiatives andotherissues relating to thehealthandwellbeing of Whanganui River IwiandGenesisEnergy to work together on Te Awa)provides theframework andmechanismsto enable the The RelationshipAgreement (HeiWhakaaro Tahi KiTe ManaO the iwi,hapuandwhanauofWhanganuiRiver. interactive andenduringrelationship between GenesisEnergy and these matters. Theagreement fosters thebuildingofapositive, whanau oftheWhanganuiRiver) andGenesisEnergy to address the WhanganuiMaoriTrust Board (representing theiwi,hapuand December 2010arelationship agreement wasreached between relationship between tangata whenuaandtheWhanganuiRiver. In the TPShasadverse effects ontheWhanganuiRiver andonthe The iwi,hapuandwhanauoftheWhanganuiRiver consider that 5.3.3 WHANGANUI IWI OPC tertiary group courses. by thepublic,particularly insummer. Theplayhole isalsousedfor OPC instructors, for their own recreation andupskilling,also During thereporting periodtheplayhole wasusedregularly by and isworking withOPCto explore optionsto promote it. Genesis Energy iseagerto seeitutilisedasmuchpossible, and resources thatwasputinto thedevelopment oftheplayhole, and iscurrently usedbyOPCandschoolgroups. Given thetime The facility can alsobeusedbyothercommunity organisations Zealand aswell asoverseas. which hasthepotential to attract paddlers from throughout New North Islandnow hasaplayhole facility ofinternational standard after sixyears ofdesign,testing andmodification. TheCentral The Wairehu CanalKayak/Canoe Playhole openedinMarch 2010 other recreational resource ofbroad recreational benefit. development ofakayaking playhole ontheWairehu Canalorsome was reached withOPCandWhitewater NZto provide for the the OPCGenesisEnergy Kayak Education Fund, agreement Wairehu Playhole reporting periodare provided inTable 13. key results for theOPCGenesisKayak Education Fund for the period to discuss thedirection oftheKayak Education Fund. The Committee members metseveral timesthroughout thereporting Wetsuit repairs 5-day teachers kayak course 5-day youth kayak course Aims

Fund result areas for thereporting period. TABLE 13//OPCGenesisKayak Education purchase resources for thedevelopment ofkayaking students on courses. kayaking instruction inNew Zealand; Zealand to raise thelevel ofrecreational kayaking and Inadditionto therecreational releases and

3 courses held 1 course held 2011–2012

31 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 32 TONGARIRO // 12 06 LAKE TAUPO LAKE ROTOAIRA / Poutu DamWRC103879 (1) the Lake Rotoaira Trust andWaikato Regional Councilatthetime. effects andnocomplaints were received. They were reported to Figure 21).Theseevents resulted innoadverse environmental pushed thelake level over itsMCLby6mmfor five minutes (see This event wasexacerbated bywave actiononthelake which Intake screens whichreduced theoutflow capacity for generation. event on12March wasinpartdueto aweed-up ontheTokaanu Maximum Control Level (MCL)by11mmfor 1.5hours. Thesecond happening inthefuture. This event sawthelake exceed its to lake inflows and steps have been taken to remedy thisfrom The first, on8July, wasnotan extraordinary event with regards There were two non-compliance events inthisreporting period. this circumstance.” done to alleviate anyoperational andmaintenance constraints in weed blockages andoutages). Everything practicable must be into account operational andmaintenance constraints suchas shut down andTokaanu Power Station isoperating fully (taking level continuing to risewhenbothWairehu andPoutu canals are The definitionof‘extraordinary flood conditions’ is“thelake compliance withthisoperating range (Table 14,Figure 21). level inextraordinary flood conditions. There wasahigh level of m, between 564.25masland564.64masl,butmaygoabove this Lake Levels Tokaanu Power Station Take WRC103883(header) Wairehu CanalDischarge WRC103882(header) Poutu CanalDis.to L.Rotoaira WRC103878(header,1) alter flow capacities. have beennomodifications to anyofthese structures which could specified in resource consents, basedondesigncriteria. There Maximum Flows 6.1.1 HYDROLOGY Key outcomes oftheconsultative process for Lake Rotoaira are: population reduction. into thePoutu andWairehu canals, mayalsocontribute to the larvae intheTokaanu Power Station Intake, andtheirmovement probably nomore thanpriorto thescheme.Entrainment ofkoaro Predation bytrout hassuppressed thekoaro population,though so ithasbeendifficult to assess thedirect impactofthescheme. There were no studies ofthekoaro populationpriorto theTPS, fewer, butlarger rainbow trout inthelake. reduction inkoaro numbers hasbeenobserved, andthere are now some changesinthestructure ofthelake fishery. Inparticular,a a healthyandproductive ecosystem. However, there have been Lake Rotoaira has maintained excellent water quality and supports outflows viathe Tokaanu Intake. driven bywater inflows from the Poutu and Wairehu canals and patterns have alsochangedfrom beingwind-driven to being weekly fluctuationofapproximately 300mm.Thelake circulation fluctuation inwater level hasbeen replaced withadaily and by between 500and600mm,thenatural seasonal400mm of water withinthelake. Thelevel ofthelake hasbeenraised Rotoaira andasaconsequence hasreduced the residence time The Tongariro Power Scheme(TPS)hasincreased inflows to Lake Rotoaira Trust onbehalfof the beneficial owners. The bedofLake Rotoaira isowned andadministered bytheLake Lake Rotoaira isofparticularsignificance to Ngati Tuwharetoa. 6.1 LAKEROTOAIRA 06 LAKEROTOAIRA/LAKE TAUPO

an agreement between Genesis Energy and the Lake Rotoaira limitsplaced onthelake level operating range; Trust to enhance thehealthoflake andthetrout fishery. Lake Rotoaira hasanormaloperating range of0.39 Several structures have maximumflow limits

range ofoptionsto managethisrisk,withlimited success. which operates automatically. GenesisEnergy hasexplored a tuna, puttingthemselves atriskfrom themechanical equipment break into thesecure compound around thescreens to collect area thatisaccessible to thepublic,somepeople continue to While weed andfish caught onthescreens istransferred to an source bylocal people. stranded onthedrumscreens, they are often targeted asafood Rotoaira where they donotnaturally occur. Whenfishbecome to stop fishaccess for tuna,lamprey andbrown trout into Lake Otamangakau. Thepurposeofthe Wairehu DrumScreens is structures and/orfollow thewater-flow to theoutlet ofLake they follow theflow downstream. Someare washed into intake Lake Otamangakau begintheirmigration to theseato spawn, tuna from theheadwater tributaries oftheWestern Diversion and since theTPSwascommissioned (seeFigure 22).Whenmature tuna ontheWairehu DrumScreens hasbeenanongoingissue Whanganui Catchment. Nevertheless, thestranding ofmigrant populations are notashigh asinotherareas lower down the The altitudeoftheTPSanditsdistance inlandmeantuna(eel) 6.1.3 TUNAMANAGEMENT monitoring programme between September 2006 andJune2009. In advance ofthiswork, GenesisEnergy undertook alake management planfor thelake (seeSection6.1.4).Whichwillinclude: lake fishery. Lake Rotoaira Trust are working onimplementinga the effects oftheTPSonlake, andpromote andenhance the Genesis Energy isworking withtheLake Rotoaira Trust to address 6.1.2 AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS ANDWATER QUALITY Poutu DamWRC103879(8) modifications to thedam. resource consents, basedondesigncriteria. There have beenno Dam Specifications Maximum level Minimum level Parameter

reporting period. FIGURE 21//Lake levels atLake Rotoaira duringthe during thereporting period. TABLE 14//Lake Rotoaira level compliance trout fisherymonitoring. macrophyte (aquaticweed) surveys; and water qualitymonitoring; Value (masl) The specifications of Poutu Damare definedin 564.64 564.25

Compliance (%) 99.98 100

Consent Number EW 103879(1) EW 103879(1) (condition)

33 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 34 TONGARIRO // 12 from both groups. a RelationshipGroup hasbeenestablished withrepresentatives better engagementbetween the two organisations. Asaresult Genesis Energy varied theagreement withtheaimoffacilitating Rotoaira. Duringthereporting periodtheLake Rotoaira Trust and with theenvironmental and cultural impactsoftheTPSonLake bed ofLake Rotoaira) reached athird partyagreement thatdeals In 2000GenesisEnergy andtheLake Rotoaira Trust (whoown the 6.1.4 LAKEROTOAIRA TRUST the strandings. collect tunafrom theWairehu drumscreens byactively managing programme willalso reduce therisksofpeople attempting to management contract withGenesisEnergy. Itishopedthatthe will begininOctober 2012through ahapu-basedtuna The first stage ofthismonitoring andmanagementprogramme monitoring andmanagementprogramme. management andto develop skillsin-houseto undertake a 23) to helplocal people understand thewiderissues oftuna by NIWA, washeldatOtukou Marae inMay2012(seeFigure and managethestranding problem. Atunawananga,presented ki Tongariro duringthereporting periodwithaproposal to try Genesis Energy wasapproached bymembers ofNgatiHikairo through removal ofspawningstock. also reduces thepotential recruitment of tunastocks generally, The harvesting ofmigrant tunaattheWairehu DrumScreens in May2012. Jacques BoubeeofNIWA duringthetunawanangaatOtukou Marae tuna managementtechniques from DrErica WilliamsandDr FIGURE 23//Members ofNgatiHikairo kiTongariro learn about the Wairehu drumscreens onherspawningmigration to thesea. FIGURE 22//Alarge (7kilogram) female longfinned eel, stranded at Dredging oftheRotoaira Channelisdueto start late in2012and the water to flow backinto theRotoaira Channel(Figure 24). slurry) willbedeposited, aswell asadrainage channelto enable a bundedarea where thedredged material (water andsediment March andApril2012.Thisinvolved earthmoving works to create The sedimentdisposalsite preparation works were undertaken in on theirlandadjacent to theRotoaira Channel. the Lake Rotoaira Forest Trust to establish asedimentdisposalsite of three discrete dredging cycles. Anagreement wasreached with Channel were obtained in2010andcan beexercised for amaximum Six resource consents to allow for thedredging oftheRotoaira for theTongariro Power Scheme. every 7-10years to maintain theefficiencyofRotoaira Channel last dredging cycle took place in2002,andisdoneapproximately In 2012/13GenesisEnergy willdredge theRotoaira Channel.The 6.1.5 ROTOAIRA CHANNELSEDIMENTDISPOSALSITE developing ameaningfulandenduringrelationship. of thelake anditstributaries. Bothpartiesare committed to focused ontheecological, cultural, spiritualandeconomic health Development oftheLake ManagementPlanisunderway. Itis The objectives oftheRelationshipGroup are: reduce theability ofthestream to clear itselfofsediment. The reduced floods inthe lower reaches ofthe Tokaanu Stream incidences offloodsinthe lower reaches ofthe Tokaanu Stream. are discharged into theTokaanu Tailrace, results inreduced The designoftheTokaanu Stream Diversion, where peakflows 6.2 TOKAANU STREAM implement themonitoring work. and theLake Rotoaira Trust are working together to develop and Channel willbemonitored. GenesisEnergy, thedredge operator During operations theturbidityofwater intheRotoaira dredged material to thedisposal site, adjacent to thechannel. will operate intheRotoaira Channelandapipelinewillcarry the continue through to 2013.Aslow-moving cutter suctiondredge

Channel dredging. FIGURE 24//Development ofthesiltdisposalsite for theRotoaira to furtherstrengthen anddevelop therelationship between to continue to take steps to ensure theenvironmental effects to assist thedevelopment, review andimplementation ofthe the parties. term oftheresource consents; and of theTPSare avoided, remedied andmitigated duringthe Lake ManagementPlan;

the expected average. Rainfall amountsand River inflows throughout the year being near Figure 25shows thelevel ofLake Taupo for thereporting period. Energy wasrequired to cease the diversion offoreign water. the reporting periodthere were nooccasions where Genesis to exceed, itsmaximumcontrol level (MCL)of357.25 masl.During Wairehu Canal,whenever Lake Taupo exceeds, orisclearly likely of foreign water, thatis,water from theMoawhangoTunnel and Maximum Levels 6.3.1 HYDROLOGY clearly likely to reach, itsmaximum control level (i.e.357.25masl). diversion offoreign water from theTPSwhenLake Taupo isat,or is consent conditions thatrequire GenesisEnergy to cease the The key outcomes oftheconsultative process for Lake Taupo and theWaikato River. of principles and rules to guidefloodmanagementonLake Taupo Mighty River Power andWaikato RegionalCouncil to develop aset by MightyRiver Power. GenesisEnergy hasworked closely with near theLake Taupo outlet. Thesegates are owned andoperated via theLake Taupo Control Gates located ontheWaikato River For purposes ofclarification, the level ofLake Taupo ismanaged of theTPS,additionalprecautions have beenputinplace. lower thanwould have occurred naturally since thecommissioning shown thatonaverage thelevel ofLake Taupo hasbeenmanaged Lake Taupo and within the lower . Although history has Diversions to enhance thelikelihood, orseverity of,floodingaround potential for additionalwater from theEastern andWestern During theconsultative process, issues were raised aboutthe approximately 29m³/s,or20%onaverage. an increased outflow from thelake to the Waikato River of The increased water inflow into thelake corresponds with Moawhango andWhangaehucatchment water andlocal inflow. a mixture ofTongariro River water, Western Diversion water, Water entering Lake Taupo viatheTokaanu Tailrace contains 6.3 TOKAANU TAILRACE ANDLAKETAUPO Tokaanu Stream Diversion WRC 103885(1,3,4,5) during thereporting period. Tokaanu Stream canal and aqueduct and no dredging was required There hasbeenvery little sedimentorweed buildupinthe survived grazing byhorses, continue to mature. Marae Committee. Previously planted native plants,whichhave the exception ofcertain areas attherequest oftheNgatiKurauia Willows have beeneradicated from along thestream edge,with major aimsassetoutintheTokaanu Stream ManagementPlan. Over thepast 12monthstheTSMGhasachieved oneofthe throughout theyear. TSMG meeting,andhave participated inanumberofsite visits Management Group (TSMG)inOctober 2011for theannual Genesis Energy representatives metwiththeTokaanu Stream community’s Tokaanu Stream ManagementPlan. community to assist withthedevelopment andimplementation ofthe Genesis Energy contributes expertise andfundsto theTokaanu Stream recent times. lost to thetailrace. Theloss ofnormalflows hasnotoccurred in so thatnormalflows remain inthe Tokaanu Stream andare not The spillway to theTokaanu Tailrace isoperated andmaintained little sedimentbuild-upandnodredging hasbeenrequired. hydraulic capacities. Surveys duringrecent years have shown very so thatthey are free from sedimentbuild-upandmaintain their Genesis Energy maintains the Tokaanu Stream canal and aqueduct Key outcomes oftheconsultative process for theTokaanu Stream are:

annual consultative meetingswiththeTokaanu community. development ofaTokaanu Stream ManagementPlanand consent conditions asto how andwhendesiltingofthe associated consultation framework; Tokaanu Stream Diversion channelcan occur;

Genesis Energy isrequired to cease thediversion

reduce thelevel ofbiological production, butithasnotaffected water from theTPS.Ashorter residence timecan potentially approximately 13.5years to 10.6years asaresult oftheadditional The residence timefor water inLake Taupo hasreduced from 6.3.2 AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS ANDWATER QUALITY Wairehu CanalDischarge WRC103882(1) Moawhango Tunnel Discharge WRC103863(2) Councilinimplementing theStrategy. no furtherprogress byeithertheWaikato RegionalCouncil or and floodingissues onLake Taupo. However, there has still been monitoring regime andfundingmechanismsto address erosion development through 2007-09.The2009Strategy identifiesa Waikato RegionalCouncilLake Taupo Erosion andFlood Strategy Genesis Energy contributed to theTaupo District Counciland Effects (2000). the Tongariro Power Development Assessment ofEnvironmental For afull discussion ontheimpactsofTPSLake Taupo see already inthelake. the additionalwater could beofsomebenefitindilutingnutrients additional water ishigherthanthatwithinLake Taupo andassuch does contain nutrients,ithasbeenshown thatthequalityof of highwater levels onerosion. Althoughtheadditionalwater additional nutrientsbeingsuppliedto Lake Taupo andtheeffects the Eastern andWestern diversions were thepotential impactof Other concerns raised inregards to theadditionalwater from generation timeoftheseorganisms beingintheorder ofdays. phytoplankton orzooplankton levels inthelake dueto the FIGURE 25//Lake Taupo level for thereporting year.

35 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 36 TONGARIRO // 12 07 OUTCOMES SCHEME-WIDE habitat, inparticularto: to enhance, protect andpromote blueduck populationsandtheir Conservation Charitable Trust wasformed in2002.TheTrust aims blue duck.Asaresult, the Central NorthIslandBlueDuck Society reached agreement to mitigate effects oftheTPSon Genesis Energy, DOCand the Royal Forest andBird Protection CHARITABLE TRUST 7.2 CENTRALNORTHISLANDBLUE DUCKCONSERVATION and willserve a3year term. Ngati Tuwharetoa representatives ataHui-a-IwiinMarch 2011 Charles Wall, HeemiBiddle andMariaNepiawere elected asthe meet bi-monthly to review allapplications. contro,l andaMataapuna Native plantnursery. Thecommittee streams whichflow into Lake Taupo, Opotaka plantingandpest willow removal along theHirangi Stream andthethree Hatepe key areas offocus for thisyear hasbeentherestoration work and During 2011,30projects were supported bytheCommittee. The Tuwharetoa GenesisEnergy Committee wasformed. To implement theobjectives oftheagreement, theNgati The key objectives oftheagreement are to: environmental andcultural issues raised byNgatiTuwharetoa. The purposeoftheagreement isto directly address the Maori Trust Board (onbehalfofngahapuoNgatiTuwharetoa). agreement reached between GenesisEnergy andtheTuwharetoa outcome from there-consenting oftheTPSin2000wasan The TPSsitswithintherohe ofNgatiTuwharetoa. Asignificant 7.1 NGATI TUWHARETOA –GENESISENERGY COMMITTEE disposal sites) andapubliccomplaints register. plans associated withspecificactivities(for example, run-offfrom development ofannualmaintenance schedules, management the scheme.Theconditions require, amongotherthings,the undertaken underapre-defined setof conditions, across granted, allowing allcommon maintenance activitiesto be basis, asuite ofscheme-wideresource consents hasbeen Rather thandealwithmaintenance activitiesonasite bysite consultative process include: basis for theTongariro Power Scheme(TPS).Key outcomes ofthe A numberofissues have beenaddressed onascheme-wide 07 SCHEME-WIDEOUTCOMES f involving waterways influenced bytheTPSandadjacent lands; inform andeducate the general publicaboutthework of enhance existing blueduckpopulationsbyprioritisingaquatic create new self-sustaining blueduckpopulationsin establish stronger communication andrelationship links undertake activitiesandpromote projects to facilitate the undertake activitiesandpromote projects to supportthe maximise theinvolvement ofNgatiTuwharetoa people inthe public complaints. dam safety run-off managementplans maintenance activities Volcanic ActivityManagementPlan(VAMP) provision ofhydrology information Central NorthIslandBlueDuckConservation Charitable Trust an agreement between GenesisEnergy andtheTuwharetoa the Trust. catchments affected bytheTPS; indigenous ecosystems andthreatened specieswithin TPS region; appropriate locations -notnecessarily limited to the between GenesisEnergy andNgatiTuwharetoa. education, healthandwell-being ofNgatiTuwharetoa; kaitiaki role ofNgatiTuwharetoa generally; monitoring activitiesundertaken byGenesisEnergy; Maori Trust Board acilitate andpromote environmental/cultural projects

received were able to befundedinwhole, orinpartoftheamount The Trust ispleased to report thatthisyear allfive applications and surrounding districts. Projects hadto have community support. recovery andhabitat amelioration ofwhiointheCentral NorthIsland from interested individualsorcommunity groups thatsupportthe whio populations.Acontestable fundwasavailable to projects funds across awiderrange ofprojects aimedat protecting existing This year theTrust implemented anew initiative to distribute year with51pairs hatching 57ducklings,ofwhich46fledged. however protected pairs andfledgingnumbers were upfrom last negative effect onwater qualityfor theManaganui-o-te-ao Project, these fledging.IntheRetaruke River theEruaslipis breeding seasonwith23ducklingsobserved, withatleast 11of during thebreeding season.Taranaki alsohadasuccessful from 10fledgeddue to flooding events inOctober andDecember, regime. Thisisincontrast to last season,whenonly five ducklings during thebreeding season,andacomprehensive predator control 121 ducklingshatching and102fledgingdue to noflooding events The Tongariro Forest alsoproduced arecord breeding seasonwith achieved bytheTongariro Forest andManganui-o-te-ao Projects. highlight isthattheobjective to secure 50pairs ofWhiohasbeen The success ofexisting projects isoutlinedinTable 15.Akey 2008-09. Key Trust projects (managedbyDOC)for 2008–12are: in 2008whichoutlinesitsmajorfundinginitiatives commencing The Trust approved itssecond five year strategic plan(2008-12) Ruapehu LaharAlarm andWarning System (ERLAWS). an emergency response plan,commonly known astheEastern closely withstakeholders intheCentral NorthIslandto develop During thedevelopment oftheVAMP, GenesisEnergy worked Key agenciesinvolved withthedevelopment of theplanwere: organisations. TheVAMP wasadopted inSeptember 2006. instrumentation andhow thecompany willinteract withother monitoring instruments, how GenesisEnergy willrespond to this volcanic event. Theplansetsoutwhere GenesisEnergy has Genesis Energy willoperate priorto, duringandafter a The Volcanic ActivityManagementPlan(VAMP) defines how 7.4 VOLCANIC ACTIVITY MANAGEMENT PLAN(VAMP) Poutu Intake WRC103875(9) Rangipo DamWRC103867(9) Whakapapa Intake MWRC101282(11) Moawhango DamDischarge MWRC101280(11) hourly viatheTokaanu flow phone,(07)3868113. Members ofthepubliccan alsoobtain flow information updated and-rainfal/rivers-lakes-and-rainfall_home.cfm http://www.genesisenergy.co.nz/genesis/generation/rivers-lakes- is freely available to thepublicviatelephone andtheinternet. quality data iscollected inreal-time andnearreal time.Thisdata around theTPS.Avariety offlow, water level, rainfall andwater Genesis Energy hasanextensive hydrology monitoring network 7.3 PUBLICLY AVAILABLE HYDROLOGY INFORMATION updated duringthelatter partof2012. The Trusts 2008–2012five-year planwillbe reviewed and hugely successful WhioFamily Day,heldinMarch (seeSection8.1.). The Trust wasalsoinvolved intheplanningandrunningof that wassought.Projects fundedare outlinedinTable 15.

New ZealandDefence Force. Ruapehu District Council; Taupo District Council; Department ofConservation; Waikato RegionalCouncil; Manawatu Wanganui RegionalCouncil; securing 50pairs ofblueduckattheMtTaranaki securing 50 pairs of blue duck on the Manganui-o-te-Ao River securing 50pairs ofblueduckonrivers inTongariro Forest Recovery Site. Security Site; Security Site;

still havinga

37 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 38 TONGARIRO // 12 required GenesisEnergy to take action. During thereporting periodthere were novolcanic events that provided to ERLAWS. with information from GenesisEnergy’s pre-existing sensors is that themonitoring sites beinstalled. Thisinformation, together proposed monitoring sites were discussed andit wasagreed A hui-a-hapuwasheldatOtukou Marae where theplanand early warningofanevent thataffects theTongariro Catchment. on theWaikato Stream andtheMangatoetoenui River to provide Genesis Energy hasalsoestablished furtherearly warningsites response plansinto action. this information isautomatically sentto key agenciesto puttheir a baselocated attheTokaanu Power Station. Once atthebase sensors located nearthecrater rimonMountRuapehu,backto available to transport early warninginformation from remote ERLAWS andhasmadeitsextensive communications network Genesis Energy hasactively participated inthedevelopment of Contestable Fund 2012 (2008/12) Taranaki WhioProgamme Whio Programme (2008-12) Retaruke-Manganui-o-te-Ao Whakapapa Rivers) (2008-12) Whanganui, Mangatepopo and Programme (including Tongariro Forest Whio Project TABLE 15// Central NorthIslandBlueDuckConservation Charitable Trust result areas duringthereporting period. Objective

50 pairs ofwhio. proposal to secure aminimumpopulationof Support theDepartmentofConservation’s intensive monitoring. Focus: predator control managementand Island andsurrounding districts. amelioration ofwhiointheCentral North work towards therecovery andhabitat Support Community-driven projects that wild andcaptive-bred whio. techniques andtechniques for translocating of thepopulationandrefining pest control Focus: integrated pest control, monitoring Mt Taranaki. population withaminimumof50pairs on project to create aself-sustaining whio Support theDepartmentofConservation’s intensive monitoring. Focus: predator control managementand 50 pairs ofwhio. proposal to secure aminimumpopulationof Support theDepartmentofConservation’s

undertaken around theTPS duringthereporting period. A numberofotherlarger plantmaintenance projects were also Abrasive Blasting WRC103898(9) Maintenance ofStructures WRC103887(26) Abrasive Blasting MWRC101303(8) Maintenance ofStructures MWRC101296(25) regions, respectively. maintenance activitiesintheManawatu/Wanganui andWaikato Tables 16and17describethescheduled andunscheduled 7.5 MAINTENANCEACTIVITIES continues. TheVAMP isscheduled for review inthenext reporting period. Routine testing oflaharprotection systems throughout theTPS scheduled trip tests conducted confirm both sites are operating well. to improve thereliability ofthesemonitoring sites. Regularly and WhakapapanuiStreams inJune2011;thepurposebeing Upgraded lahardetection sensors were installed atWhakapapaiti Result Areas (11/12) Contestable Fund Recipients(11/12)

Trap checks remained at 12 per year year per 12 at remained checks Trap . o A e 1160 trap boxes inplace. t o i u n a g n a Trapping continued (combined withkiwiproject) M - e k u r a t e R Predator Control: e h t n o l o r t 47 fledglings n o c r o t a d e r p 2011/12 season.Thoughtto beasaresult oftheintensive Pair numbers seemto have increased from 43to 51over the year a Monitoring: times 18 checked 71km ofriver protected place, in traps 1,436 Predator Control: Forest, andtheongoingpredator trapping along rivers. stable flows, an18,000haaerial1080operation in Tongariro hatching, and102fledging.Thehighproductivity wasdue to It wasarecord seasonfor productivity, with121ducklings kilometre. now very highandinsomereaches there are over 3pairs per 50 pairs (anincrease in2pairs from last year). Pair densityis Monitoring: 22km ofriver protected over 600traps inplace Predator Control: . ) . m s k e n 1 i l 1 ( t a m o t a s D a o e t p a i w g a k n I a R e h t o t r o s f l s l t a s F o c o , t e a t i k s i a t W c e placed 3kmabove andbelow BlackFern Lodge. j m o o r r p f e Black Fern Lodge: h r t e v f o i R t u o o r i r a g Aorangi Awarua Trust: n o T e h + t 0 4 n o i Blue DuckProject Trust: t a l u p o p and handler. d e t a m NZ DeerStalkers Association: i t s e , + treadle plates onDOC250traps. 5 1 t a East Taranaki Environment Trust: e l b a t s d e n i a m e r e v these, atleast a 11fledged. h s r Successful breeding e season,with23ducklingsobserved, andof b m u n r i a p 8 captive-bred birds released (5females, 3males) 3 males) 4 WHIONE(whiooperation nest egg)juveniles raised (1female, Population: Trap replacement andmaintenance isongoing

To purchase andreplace traps currently

To transport trap checkers into and

To purchase andestablish traps along To hire ablueducksurvey dog

To maintain andreplace

diameter, thenviaa2mdiameter tunnelsection,1kminlength. Access to thework site wasviaa100mlong penstock, 1min situation haddeveloped. installed to protect thebottom ofthedrop-shaft where asimilar repaired. A16mmthickplate steel linerwas alsofabricated and 2012 to allow concrete sectionsatthetop ofthedrop-shaft to be ensure theintegrity ofthetunnel.Anoutage occurred inApril-May Mangaio Tunnel to suchanextent thatrepairs were required to key tributaries. Over time,thissedimenthaseroded partsofthe heavy bedload ofsiltandgravels sourced from anumberofits Mangaio Tunnel Repairs the replacement project. operational sites to allow ongoingmanagementoftheTPSduring temporary deployment ofportable generators atanumberofkey were replaced bySF6typebreakers. Theoutage required the insulation mediumbutdueto ageandmaintenance issues, they during March 2012.Theseoldercircuit breakers usedoilasthe the Eastern Diversion down theDesertRoad,were replaced Switchyard, partofthe33kVpower supply circuit thatfeeds 33kV Replacement There wasnounscheduled abrasive blasting intheWaikato Region Unscheduled Abrasive Blasting There wasnoscheduled abrasive blasting intheWaikato Region Scheduled Abrasive Blasting –EW103898(9) Slip Debris Volcanic Eruptions Unscheduled Maintenance Activities Tokaanu Intake Wairehu Canal Poutu Dam Poutu intake Rangipo Dam Scheduled Maintenance Activities-EW103887(26) Area There wasnounscheduled abrasive blasting intheManawatu/Wanganui Region Unscheduled Abrasive Blasting There wasnoscheduled abrasive blasting intheManawatu/Wanganui Region Scheduled Abrasive Blasting -MWRC101303(8) Slip Debris Volcanic Eruptions Unscheduled Maintenance Activities Whanganui Intake Mangatepopo Intake Tawhitikuri Intake Taurewa Intake Okupata Intake Whakapapa Intake Wahianoa Aqueduct Scheduled Maintenance Activities-MWRC101296(25) Area TABLE 16// TABLE 17// Tongariro Power Schememaintenance activitiesintheWaikato Regionduringthereporting period. Tongariro Power Scheme maintenance activitiesintheManawatuWanganui Regionduringthereporting period. Two circuit breakers withintheTokaanu The Wahianoa Aqueductcarries a Removal ofslipdebris Removal ofash/lahardebris weed from intake Removal ofaccumulation of weed from intake screens Removal ofaccumulation of Debris/gravel/silt removal Debris/gravel/silt removal Debris/gravel/silt removal Description Removal ofslipdebris Removal ofash/lahardebris Debris/gravel/silt removal Debris/gravel/silt removal Debris/gravel/silt removal Debris/gravel/silt removal Debris/gravel/silt removal Debris/gravel/silt removal Debris/gravel/silt removal Description were aware of the increased flows. was carried outto ensure allriver users andinterested parties normal duringthetunnelinspectionperiod.Publicnotification As persection4.1,flows inthe Tongariro River were higherthan safety oftheinspectionparty. Nonew issues were found. number ofdaysto allow theground water flows to stabilise for the inspect thesurge chamber(Figure 26).Thisoutage requires a which wascompleted infour hours. Aman-cage wasusedto inspection team offour traversed thesixkilometre long tunnel, to allow thetunnelto bedrained andaninspectionmade.The five yearly cycle. A Tokaanu Station outage occurred inApril2012 Tokaanu Tunnel Inspection and, therefore, future maintenance requirements. Mangaio Tunnel, to reduce on-goingsedimentloads inthetunnel sediment sluicingmechanismatGate 51attheentrance to the During theoutage, opportunitywasalsotaken to modifythe as drypossible duringtheworks. tunnel. Constant dewatering wasrequired to keep thework area Each piece ofsteel hadto betrolleyed through thepenstock and Ongoing (generally arequirement after afresh event) Ongoing (generally arequirement after afresh event) Ongoing (generally arequirement after afresh event) Occurrence Not required Not required Ongoing Ongoing Ongoing (generally arequirement after afresh event) Ongoing (generally arequirement after afresh event) Ongoing (generally arequirement after afresh event) Occurrence Not required Not required Ongoing (generally arequirement after afresh event) Ongoing (generally arequirement after afresh event) Ongoing (generally arequirement after afresh event) Ongoing (generally arequirement after afresh event) TheTokaanu Tunnel isinspected ona

39 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 40 TONGARIRO // 12 for suchproblems. but themuchlarger event on20March wastypical ofthetiming days. The8Januaryevent wasearlierintheseasonthannormal Tokaanu Power Station to less than20%for periodsofupto five reporting period.Bothreduced thegeneration capacity ofthe ups occurred attheTokaanu Intake onLake Rotoaira, duringthe Tokaanu Intake Weed-Up connecting thegenerator to thetransformer were replaced. rare event ofatransformer rupture. Atthesametimecables cope withtheadditionaloilcapacity ofeachtransformer, inthe the upgrade andenlargement oftheoilinterception system to with larger units of 70 MVA rating (Figure 27). This project included Between JanuaryandJuly 2012,alltransformers were replaced transformers commenced. in theunlikely event ofafailure, while aproject to replace the were erected to reduce theriskofdamageto personnel andplant small riskoffailure dueto theirage(40years) and‘blast walls’ service life. In2010,assessments indicated thatthere wasa cope withtheincreased load, thehigherloads decreased their transformers. While theoriginaltransformers were modified to was increased to 60MWin1996increasing theload onthe (MVA) transformers. TheoutputofeachTokaanu generator connected to theNationalGridviaindividual50Megavolt Ampere at Tokaanu Power Station were historically 50MW,each Tokaanu Transformer Upgrade Switchyard, ready for anew unitto be installed. FIGURE 27//Anoldtransformer isremoved from theTokaanu from aman-cage lowered into thethroat ofthechamber. FIGURE 26//Engineeringstaff inspecttheTokaanu Surge Chamber Two separate andsignificant weed- Thefour originalgenerators and theoptionsofproactive weed harvesting. investigated withtheLake Rotoaira Trust, includingweed surveys future managementofhornwort onLake Rotoaira are being generation atTokaanu Power Station for five days.Options for the weed from thelake (Figure 28).TheMarch event disrupted Diggers, trucksandaweed harvesting boatwere usedto remove the problems thisyear. easterly events, isthoughtto have beenacontributing factor to and longer growing conditions, generally less windbutextreme screens. AnotherLaNinasummer,characterised bywarmer extreme events whichwere unable to bemanagedbytheweed (approximately 3000m³inJanuary and5000m³inMarch) were The large amountsofweed inthetwo events thisyear northern endoftheLake. perspective) bytheweed screens attheTokaanu Intake atthe circumstances issuccessfully managed(from ageneration into Lake Rotoaira inthe1990s(probably byboats),butin most days oreven weeks. Hornwort wasunfortunately introduced stem fragments whichcan stay viable outofwater for many number ofNew Zealandlakes. Theplantiseasily spread bysmall weed specieswhichisdisplacingnative aquaticflora inagrowing problem weed inLake Rotoaira. Itisahighly invasive aquatic Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) continues to bethemajor Runoff Management Planisshown inTable 18. A record ofmaterial removed from TPSstructures underthe Maintenance ActivityDischarge WRC103897(11) Maintenance ActivityDischarge MWRC101302(10) of allmaterial removed. is required to besubmitted to councils annually. Records are kept the methodsadopted to achieve compliance. Amaintenance plan plan describeshow thedepositionactivitieswillbemanagedand material from, oradjacent to, watercourses ofthescheme.The associated withtheremoval ofsediment,weed, debrisorother consents whichpermitthedischarge ofmaterials onto orinto land the Tongariro Power Scheme. Theplanisrequired byresource Genesis Energy hasdeveloped aRun-offManagementPlanfor 7.6 RUN-OFFMANAGEMENT PLAN Tokaanu Power Station Discharge WRC103884(4) Rangipo Power Station Discharge WRC103870(4) Waihohonu Tunnel Discharge WRC103866(2) Moawhango Tunnel DischageWRC103863(3) therefore noriverbank erosion repairs were necessary. noted within100mdownstream ofthesedischarge structures, structures. During thereporting period,noriverbank erosion was Rangipo Power Station, andTokaanu Power Station discharge m downstream oftheMoawhangoTunnel, Waihohonu Tunnel, necessary to remedy anyriverbank erosion occurring up to 100 Erosion Repairs at Tokaanu Intake inMarch 2012. FIGURE 28//Aweed harvester attempts to shiftthehugeweed-up Genesis Energy isrequired to maintain anyworks

regulations come into force. dam structures, andwillcontinue to do so atleast untilthenew that GenesisEnergy already appliesthesestandards to allits authority tasked withmanagingtheseissues. Itshould benoted Safety Assurance Programme thatislodged withaterritorial pose ariskto thepublicwillberequired to have aformal Dam the new regulations is publicsafety, anddamsthatare found to 2008 have beenamended to reflect thisdeferral. The focus of July 2012to 1July 2014.TheBuilding(DamSafety) Regulations agreed to thefurtherdeferral oftheDamSafety Schemefrom 1 the sametimeproposing significant changes, Cabinet recently rather thanbringingtheDamSafety Schemeinto effect, while at implementation wasdelayed until1July 2012.Subsequently 1 July 2010,however, following aparliamentary review their New damsafety regulations were setto come into force on electrical engineeringexperts. These thorough reviews involve external civil,mechanical and reviews are carried out on significant assets atsix year intervals. As acheckofallsafety processes andprocedures, damsafety carries outanannualinspection. number ofhigherriskassets, aspecialist consultant engineer at assets andissues nottargeted bymonthly monitoring. For a depending ontheasset. Several timesayear anengineerlooks Deformation surveys are carried out,typically once ortwice ayear, Specially trained individualsare involved atthenext level ofsafety. is internally reviewed byanengineer. provides Genesis Energy withamonthly damsafety report, which number oflocations. Anexpert civilengineerreviews thedata and a monthly basis,assets are inspected anddata iscollected ata Dam safety atthesimplest level involves routine monitoring. On followed attheTPSfollow best international practice. of theserules indicates thatthecurrent damsafety practices to damshave yet to beformalised, butareview ofadraft copy changes to current safety practices. Thenew regulations relating Tongariro Power Scheme.Recent legislation mayresult in for managingandmonitoring thehydraulic structures ofthe New ZealandSocietyonLarge Damsprovide theframework The New ZealandDamSafety Guidelinespublishedbythe 7.7 DAM SAFETY Wahianoa 4 Wahianoa 5 Wahianoa 10 118 Wahianoa Intake Tokaanu Wahianoa 2 Wahianoa 4 Wahianoa 5 Wahianoa 10 118 Wahianoa 21 Wahianoa Intake Tokaanu Intake Taurewa Intake Okupata Location TABLE 18// Sedimentandothermaterials removed from TPSStructures duringthereporting period. 7/05/12 3/05/12 3/05/12 1/05/12 8/01/12 16/02/12 16/02/12 15/02/12 15/02/12 13/02/12 13/02/12 8/01/12 30/11/11 30/11/11 Date Silt andsand Silt andsand Silt andsand Silt, SandandRock Weed Silt andsand Silt andsand Silt andsand Silt andsand Silt andRock Silt, sandandrock Weed Silt andVegetation Silt Removed Nature ofMaterial 30m³ 40m³ Quantity 30m³ 50m³ 40m³ 70m³ 5000m³ 130m³ 40m³ 120m³ 100m³ 200m³ 70m³ 3000m³ Intake 4site Intake 5site Intake 10site Intake 118site Awamate RdWorm Farm Intake 2site Intake 4site Intake 5site Intake 10site Intake 118site Intake 21site Awamate RdWorm Farm Taurewa Okupata Disposal Site period, andtheactionstaken to address theissues. Table 19details thetwo complaints received for thereporting recommendations. Theseare sentto appropriate staff to action. Management System. Complaintsare documented along withrelevant Genesis Energy records allpubliccomplaints viaanEvent 7.9 PUBLICCOMPLAINTS procedures documentinthenext reporting period. to allow themto beincorporated into awiderRenewable Energy during thereporting period. Theprocedures willbeexpanded New oilspillprocedures for theTPSwere rolled outto staff response preparedness procedures are reviewed every two years. exercises are undertaken, spillkitsare regularly checked and Power Stations andkey intake structures. Regularstaff training kits are located atstrategic locations atTokaanu andRangipo compliant withstatutory requirements. Comprehensive oilspill All oilstorage areas atGenesisEnergy sites are bunded, 7.8 OILSPILLRESPONSE available onrequest. (CSR) iscarried outonourdams.Copiesofthereports are dam classification) a very extensive Comprehensive Safety Review period. Inadditionto this,every 5to 7years (dependingonthe programme, which have alsobeencompleted duringthereporting and surveillance reports inaccordance withourDamsafety safety programme alsoincludesregular monthly monitoring Dam andWairehu Control Structure. GenesisEnergy’s dam Intake, Poutu Canal,Poutu Dam,Otamangakau Dam,Te Whaiau dam inspectionsatMoawhangoDam,RangipoPoutu Civil Engineers from Damwatch, whoundertook theannual Dam safety monitoring wascarried outbyappropriately qualified Removed sandandsiltfrom headpond Removed siltfrom headpond Removed sandandsiltfrom headpond Reshaped waterway to intake structure Shifted to olddumpsite initially thentaken offsite atalater date Removed builduprestricting intake flows Removed builduprestricting intake flows Removed builduprestricting intake flows Removed builduprestricting intake flows Removed builduprestricting intake flows Removed builduprestricting intake flows Trucked direct to Awamate Rd Removed siltfrom headpondandvegetation downstream Silt removal from headpond Comments

41 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 42 TONGARIRO // 12 the Waikato RegionalCouncilwithrespect to theaudit. Genesis Energy appreciates theconsultative approach taken by with theWaikato RegionalCouncil,andto improve reporting. amount ofwork undertaken to clarifyconsent condition wording and resource consent compliance. Italsoreflects thesignificant emphasis GenesisEnergy places onenvironmental responsibility Genesis Energy ispleased withthisresult, whichreflects the compliance” for the2010/11audityear, thesecond highest status. The Waikato RegionalCouncilassigned theTPSa“highlevel of audited eachyear. TheTPShasbeenassigned Priority2status. every Priority1site, while atleast 75%ofallpriority2sites are Council isrequired to undertake anannualcompliance auditfor Council’s monitoring effect. Accordingly, theWaikato Regional The purposeofthepriorityranking isto direct theWaikato Regional minor and/orstable effects. to have effects ontheenvironment, and4beingsites withvery ranking ranging from 1to 4,with1beingthe highest ormost likely the site mayhave ontheenvironment. Sites are assigned apriority variety offactors including thescale ofactivityandthelikely effect all sites withinitsregion thatholdresource consents, basedona The Waikato RegionalCouncilhasdeveloped asystem ofranking 7.10 WAIKATO REGIONALCOUNCILAUDIT Wahianoa Aqueduct-Gate 51 Moawhango River Location TABLE 19// Publiccomplaints duringthereporting period. Section 3.3.1).Theguidehadrescheduled not occur onthe14thMarch 2012(refer to scheduled Moawhangoflushingflow did A rafting /fishingguidequestioned whythe Complaint ford area. personal were able to vacate thevehicle and the ford. There were noinjuries andarmy this timeandwasstranded ontheedgeof vehicle attempted to cross theford during New ZealandDefence Force (NZDF)Unimog the endofWahianoa AqueductatGate 51.A in theaqueductandtunnelwasreleased at station bypass valve wasclosed andallflow Mangaio Power Station. Atthetimepower Diversion whichautomatically shutdown in afault withthe33kvcircuit ontheEastern A storm event on13thOctober 2011resulted had to reschedule to avoid thenew date. clients to avoid theflushingflow date, then information ontheflow rates relating to thisincident. A hydrology report wasproduced andprovided to theNZDFto provide was installed onbothsidesofGate 51. signage existed atthislocation. After inspectionadditionalsignage A signageinvestigation wasundertaken to determine ifadequate weather conditions. before theincidentthatriver levels were goingto behighdueto the sounded. NZDFwascontacted andwarnedbyGenesisEnergy theday the ford whenitwasalready above spilllevel andafter thesiren had spill atGate 51.Unfortunately the Unimogattempted to gothrough siren would have soundedfor 3minutes whenthewater started to tested aspartofroutine checksofthelaharwarningsystem. The Sirens atGate 51were checked. They hadrecently beenreplaced and they thenrecovered thevehicle. Centre maintained regular contact withon-site NZDFpersonnel as opened manually to reduce spillatGate 51.TheGeneration Control When notifiedofthe stranding, thepower station bypass valve was flushing flow wasnot released (refer toSection3.3.1). investigation wascarried outto determine whytheMoawhango was madeto thefishingguide for theinconvenience caused. An confirming the rescheduled date. A verbal andwritten apology was to becarried out.Afollow-up e-mailwassentto thetour guide Genesis Energy explained thesituation,andthatafullinvestigation Corrective Action ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNITY & INITIATIVES

08 43 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 44 TONGARIRO // 12 awareness wasgenerated andasaresult some goodeditorial let theWhioenduplike theMoa’. Arelatively highlevel ofmedia awareness oftheplightwhio.Thekey tag linewas‘We can’t significant television and printadvertising wasdone to raise Whio Awareness MonthwasagainheldduringMarch 2012,and and isintheprocess ofdeveloping afive year strategic plan. has developed avisionandstrategy (Figure 30)for theagreement has mettwice andagreed theyear onefunding.Thecommittee Trust andfrom theRoyal Forest andBird Society. The committee from theCentral NorthIslandBlueDuckConservation Charitable three representatives ofeachorganisation andarepresentative underway. Amanagementcommittee hasbeenestablished with Implementation oftheWhioForever Investment Agreement iswell staff members (Figure 29). as well asmanyGenesisEnergy andDepartmentofConservation Wilkinson (Minister ofConservation), DameJennyShipley, media, attended, withrepresentatives from Tuwharetoa, Hon.Kate National Trout Centre on1March 2012.Thelaunchwaswell Agreement, asponsorship launchwasheldattheTongariro To formally announce andcelebrate theWhioInvestment the CNI has seenWhionumbers increase by10%nationally asaresult of mitigation outcomes oftheTPSresource consents process which the future ofwhio.Theagreement buildsonthesuccess ofthe implement theNationalWhioRecovery Planthereby securing agreement commits, infull,$2.5millionover five years to fully by DOCandGenesisEnergy on31August 2011inWellington. The whio. TheWhioInvestment Agreement wassubsequently signed National WhioRecovery Group to become thecorporate sponsorof In 2010, Genesis Energy received an exclusive invitation from DOCs 8.1 WHIOFOREVER 08 COMMUNITY&ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES Investment Launch. Dame JennyShipley (ChairGenesisEnergy) atthe‘WhioForever’ FIGURE 29//Hon.Kate Wilkinson(Minister ofConservation) and both theBlackFern andBlueDucklodges. member), aGoodNature Possum Trap, andaccommodation at oil paintingonrimuofwhio(painted byaGenesisEnergy staff whio conservation. Large bidswere placed onitems suchasan An onsite auctionofdonated prizes raised almost $3,000for great success, withmore than600people attending (seeFigure 31). activities andlearn more aboutwhio.Thedaywasonce againa Genesis Energy. Itwasagreat dayout for families to enjoy fun Duck Conservation Charitable Trust, DOC, Forest &Bird and National Trout Centre, hosted bytheCentral NorthIslandBlue Family Day’washeldthisyear on10March attheTongariro As apartofMarch, beingWhio Awareness Month,the third ‘Whio the field. include timespentwithaDOCranger learning aboutthewhioin South Islandwere chosento receive afour dayholidaywhichwill Day’ Competition)wasrunagainandwinners from theNorthand coverage. TheGreat WhioAdventure (formerly ‘BeARangerFor A FI GURE 30//

The WhioForever VisionStatement Centre duringthereporting periodinclude: Some highlightsandupdates from theTongariro NationalTrout education programme, Taupo for Tomorrow, waslaunchedin2005. educational resource accessible to the public and school groups. The National Trout Centre, alongside theTongariro River, afantastic Trout Centre. Thefive year partnership issituated atthe Tongariro support andsite development projects attheTongariro National to includetheeducation programme, fundingfor administration Society. In2009theagreement wasrenegotiated andextended Genesis Energy, DOCandtheTongariro NationalTrout Centre In 2004anexciting education partnership wasformed between and above itslegal requirements. sought new waysto putsomethingbackinto thecommunity over resource consents now operative for 35years, GenesisEnergy has The Tongariro River isakey component oftheTPS,andwith 8.2 TONGARIRO NATIONAL TROUTCENTRE come-back onthelower Tongariro River. involved withthisproject andisanencouraging signofawhio surviving to fledging.Thisisagreat result for the community pairs producing 25 ducklingsandatleast ten oftheseducklings successful breeding wasrecorded onthissectionofriver withfive For thefirst timesince the community trapping effort began, One BridgeatTurangi. the sectionofriver between Poutu Intake andtheState Highway estimate ofeightto ten breeding pairs andthree single birds on whio population,occurred inDecember 2011andresulted inan numbers. Thethird survey, ofwhatisNew Zealand’s only “urban” Blue DuckProject Charitable Trust, aimedatincreasing whio community basedpredator trapping programme bytheTongariro whio surveys ofthelower Tongariro River whichissubjectto a Duck Conservation Charitable Trust, issupportingannual Genesis Energy, together withtheCentral NorthIslandBlue DUCK PROJECT 8.1.1 SPONSORSHIPFOR LOWER TONGARIRO COMMUNITYBLUE

FIGURE 31//WhioFamily DayattheTongariro NationalTrout Centre. the Trout Centre. to theGenesisEnergy-funded education programme runat overseas tourists, andisproving to beanintegral component Freshwater Aquariumhascontinued to attract local and Genesis Energy Freshwater Aquarium TheGenesisEnergy

the Tongariro NationalTrout Centre. Children’s fishingpondduringoneoftheChildren’s fishingdaysat FIGURE 32//AGenesisEnergy staff memberhelpsoutatthe become Patron oftheTongariro NationalTrout Centre Tongariro NationalTrout Centre Society’s invitation to QSO, Governor-General ofNew Zealandkindly accepted the General TheRightHonourable SirJerryMateparae, GNZM, Patron daughter documentindetail Bill’s fishing exploits over the years. from 1982-2011.Thesediaries,withcovers illustrated byhis identity, BillColston, hasgenerously gifted hisfishingdiaries, Merrilyn JaquieryandPeter McIntre (onloan). Local fishing the Societyhasbeengifted artworks byVal Raymond, artefacts, memorabilia, books and documents. More recently, receiving manydonationsfrom families andcollectors of the Tongariro NationalTrout Centre Societyare As aresult oftheCentre’s muchimproved displayfacilities, (lifeforce), in-stream ecology, andpower generation. place onwater, includingthatofrecreation, fisheries,mauri Energy display,whichhighlightsthevariety ofvalues people fishery. TheVisitor’s Centre includesaninteractive Genesis appropriately to sustain thisworld-class trout andendemic Fishery, andtheimportance ofmanagingourwater resources a comprehensive story oftheCentral NorthIsland’s Trout component to theTongariro NationalTrout Centre, telling Centre, includingtheMuseumandLibrary addsavital Museum andLibrary indigenous species”. national pointofexcellence for thepreservation anddisplayof members describeitas“afresh water aquariumwhichisa to ourfreshwater ecosystems. Thepassionate society country to focus onNew Zealand’s native fishandthethreats unique resource, beingtheonly publicaquariuminthe The focus oftheaquariumisonnative speciesanditisa assisting withaChildren’s FishingDay (Figure 32). Genesis Energy staff spenttheirannualvolunteer day Genesis Energy Fresh Water Aquarium.Thisyear, some children fishingwhile mumsanddads visit theCentre and and long weekends, thesefamily daysseeclose to 200 hosts children’s fishingdays.Heldduringschoolholidays Children’s FishingDays. recognition ofthissignificant donation. which hasbeenrenamed theVal RaymondGallery in Tongariro. Thiscollection isnow ondisplayintheauditorium works depictingthestory oftheever changingpoolsofthe Val Raymond,hasgifted to theCentre acollection ofher Val RaymondGallery (Darkie) Downs. long-serving patronage ofthelate Whakapumautanga Tuwharetoa andtheDowns hapu,following onfrom the carry onatradition oftheSociety’s engagementwithNgati Society. Inaccepting thisrole theGovernor-General will Duringthereporting year, HisExcellency Lieutenant Local artist andlong-time supporter, The recently re-developed Visitor’s Throughout theyear theCentre

45 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 46 TONGARIRO // 12 Taupo for Tomorrow Highlights: also inmeetingtheincreasing energy needsofNew Zealanders. least recreationally through ourworld famous trout fishery,but recognise thatfresh water sustains usinamyriadofways,not 33). Interms of‘bigpicture’ learning, visitors are encouraged to all learners visitingthesite alsovisitingtheaquarium(Figure an integral partoftheTaupo for Tomorrow programme, with The GenesisEnergy Fresh Water Aquariumhasquickly become designed to meettheneedsofvisitingeducators andlearners. pond, along withawiderange ofotherlearning programmes ‘Wonderful Wai’, ‘Fantastic Whio’,andfishinginthechildren’s A numberofseteducation programmes were offered, suchas consisted of114groups from 66schoolsandlearning centres. participate intheTaupo for Tomorrow Education Programme. This year, 2,942students visited theTongariro NationalTrout Centre to Taupo for Tomorrow Education Programme

is aGeography Achievement Standard, basedaround students to develop aprogramme titled ‘Catching theBigOne’.This worked together withtheTaupo for Tomorrow programme year over anumberofsubjects.StJohn’s from Hamilton has worked witharange ofsecondary schoolgroups this High SchoolLearning: with whio. on site atthecentre anddaytwo outontherivers engaging to participate in‘Fantastic Whio’over two days,withdayone Intermediate Science and Technology Academy, againchose particularly exciting. Somegroups suchasHastings (sometimes immediately next to theclassroom) hasbeen for learners to getupclose andpersonal withtheanimals Tongariro River inincreasing numbers, theopportunity the New ZealandCurriculum. Withwhioreturning to the into thescience, socialstudies andtechnology strands of species. Studentsare able to integrate learning aboutwhio opportunity to engagewithanamazing freshwater indicator Fantastic Whio: around sustainability andfresh water. programme andresources onoffer to supporttopics based natural systems?’ Teachers are able to utilisethe too -renewable energy to run ourlives vs. sustainable and posesthequestion: ‘can we have ourcake andeatit encourages learners to recognise thevalue offresh water the ‘Wonderful Wai’ learning programme. Thisprogramme education programme, with25classes completing Wonderful Wai: long term sustainability andhealthoftheresource. to supportthesite, andhow eachhasasignificant role inthe It demonstrates how thepartners work effectively together how allare engagedwith,andvalue, fresh water intheregion. the NationalTrout Centre Society)atthesite and partners (GenesisEnergy, DepartmentofConservation and Trout Centre asawhole. Itoutlinestherole ofthethree main the function,purposeandvisionofTongariro National year entitled, ‘Wai Maori’(Fresh Water) to illustrate to visitors Wai Maori: JohnBallwascommissioned to make a filmthis ‘Fantastic Whio’offers learners the Local schoolscontinued to supportthe TheTaupo for Tomorrow programme Duringthepast on (07)3869246. website For more information abouttheeducation programme visitthe now andlooking to thefuture. learners to thinkaboutwhatfresh water meansto theirlives both with itsuseandprotection. Theeducators hopeto challenge depend onitfor theircontinued sustainability, andgroups involved to engagefirst handwithqualityfresh water, theanimalsthat even tertiary groups. Learners are provided theopportunity groups ranging from year oneto year thirteen, andoccasionally regardless oftheirage.Theprogramme continues to cater for engaging future focused learning experiences to allstudents Programme istheabilityto provide meaningful,challenging and One ofthegreat attributes oftheTaupo for Tomorrow Education something inthat Taranaki water! team. Thiswasa reversal oflast year’s results - there must be followed closely bytheNew Plymouth Boys andGirlsHighSchools This year, Opunake HighSchoolwasthevictor (Figure 34), encountered byallteams duringtheweek! was extremely aptgiven thechallenging weather conditions face over thenext five days.Jamie’s advice of“Keepon rowing” of New Zealand),to thechallenges thatthe students would likely Atlantic, walkingunaidedto theSouth Pole andwalkingthelength encountered during hisadventures (includingrowing across the Jamie Fitzgerald. Jamierelated anumberofchallenges This year’s openingnightmotivational speaker wasadventurer 18 hourrogaine expedition and51kmmultisportrace. skills, endurance, mental acumenandteamwork, culminatinginan outdoor challenges. Thechallenges are designedto test outdoor from around New Zealandwhobattle itoutinawidevariety of This event attracts thevery best secondary schooladventure racers National Park. Genesis Energy HillaryChallenge atOPCadjacent to theTongariro one secondary schoolteam from Australia competed intheannual – 18May2012,eleven New Zealandsecondary school teams and Genesis Energy Secondary SchoolHillaryChallenge outdoor education (withafocus onNew Zealand’s youth). with OPCto supporttheirvisionofdeveloping potential through (OPC) isanimportant stakeholder. GenesisEnergy haspartnered Within theTPS,SirEdmundHillaryOutdoorPursuits Centre CENTRE SPONSORSHIP 8.3 SIREDMUNDHILLARYOUTDOORPURSUIT Genesis Energy Freshwater Aquarium(photo: LenBirch) FIGURE 33//Educator Mike Nicholsonengagesyoung mindsinthe environment -amongothers. life, andtherole oftourism/business anditsconnection to the at humanimpactsontheTongariro River, how water sustains an environment. Othersecondary schoolgroups looked demonstrating an understanding of the the sustainable use of www.taupofortomorrow.co.nz orcontact theEducator

On the14

primary andintermediate-aged children. Feedback from schools The target audience for theRIG’s education programmes hasbeen it first hitthe road in2007 (MWRC). TheRIGhasnow hosted more than90,000 visitors since assigned to theRIGbyManawatuWanganui RegionalCouncil during thepast year dueto areduction inoperational budget The RIGhasreduced thenumberofcommunity events attended Show andWhanganuiAwaWeek, amongothercommunity events. Days, Take aKidFishingday,theOhakea 75thAnniversary Air community events. TheRIGhasattended Central District Field hosted almost 5800 visitors, visited 22schools,andattended nine Manawatu/Wanganui Region.During thistimetheRIGhas Over thepast year theRIGhasroamed far andwidewithinthe manages itsown operations andassets. environmental managementare key to thewayGenesisEnergy in theManawatu/Wanganui region andthemessages about the important relationships ithaswithavariety ofstakeholders Council for thisinnovative project. Thepartnership buildson has a10-year partnership withManawatuWanganui Regional Genesis Energy istheprimarysponsorofGreen RIGand accessible fashion. presents environmental information inanengagingandreadily and displays,curriculum-linked programmes, theGreen RIG and beyond. Utilisinga‘hands-on’approach, interactive exhibits awareness andsustainability to theManawatu/Wanganui region semi-trailer andtruckwhichtakes themessage ofenvironmental Launched inMay2007,theGreen RIGisamobile, custom-built 8.4 GREENRIG College (2);Rangitahi College; andOtago Girls’ HighSchool. Educators; Solway College; Trident HighSchool;Sancta Maria College; New Plymouth Boys High;SouthCanterbury Home ‘Student vs Wild’winningschoolswere: HuanuiCollege; Kaipara course ateithertheGreat BarrierorTongariro centres. The2011 to gotowards thecost ofsending20students onafive dayOPC the top ten schoolsare awarded ascholarship of$5000each week livingattheirschool.Theentriesare judgedon-lineand submitting avideoentryshowcasing how they would survive a Barrier for a5-dayprogramme. Thecompetition involves students assists more students to attend OPCTongariro orOPC Great This isajointGenesisEnergy andOPCinitiative whichfinancially schools across New Zealandviathe‘Studentvs Wild’competition. Genesis Energy alsoprovides $50,000worth ofscholarships to Wild Genesis Energy SchoolScholarship programme :Studentvs OPC Facebook page Hillary Challenge visittheOPCwebsite To findoutmore abouttheGenesisEnergy Secondary School (photo: OPC). FIGURE 34//Thewinningteam from Opunake HighSchool In additionto itsoverall sponsorship oftheHillaryChallenge, www.facebook.com/opcnz www.opc.org.nz , andthe this invasive algae,alsoknown as“rock-snot” maybeable to be has beenpresent intheSouthIsland.Thisgives somehopethat Didymo hasnotreached theNorthIslandineightyears it organisations include: the effects ofthoseaquaticweeds thatare already present. These prevent thespread ofaquaticpests intheNorthIslandandto limit Genesis Energy isworking withanumberoforganisations to help which Genesisoperates. operations (alsoseeSection7.5),andtheaquaticenvironments in have thepotential to seriously impactonGenesisEnergy’s other aquaticweed speciessuchasHornwort andLagarosiphon, Didymosphenia germinata (Didymo),together witharange of 8.5 AQUATIC BIOSECURITY delivering key sustainable usemessages to theregions youth. is very disappointingasitwasauniquemobile educational facility unfortunately hasdecidedto disbandandselltheGreen RIG.This of Green RIGaspartofthe2012LongTerm CommunityPlan,and and parents. Inthereporting periodMWRCreviewed thefuture has been very positive with strong support from students, teachers about theeducation programmes beingdelivered through theRIG storm event and,ofmost concern, thecutting ofmooringropes. significant maintenance was required due to theimpactsofamajor weed growing season(April2012)found nonew weed speciesbut in thelake. Adive survey ofthecordon area attheendof or trailers, preventing new weed pests like hornwort establishing catch fragments ofaquaticweeds thatmighthitch arideonboats cordon, developed byBayofPlenty RegionalCouncilisdesignedto around theLake Otamangakau boatramp (Figure 35).Theweed Energy resulted intheestablishment ofanaquaticweed cordon between DOC,MWRC,BayofPlenty RegionalCouncilandGenesis September 2011,amulti-agencybiosecurity collaborationIn TPS andthemajortributaries ofLake Taupo. key local rivers includingthoseontheWestern Diversion ofthe DOC continue to undertake monthly surveillance monitoring on As partoftheregional didymoactionplan,GenesisEnergy and North Islandpartnergroup isoneofsixintheNorthIsland. role inhelpingto managethethreat ofaquaticpests. TheCentral groups formally established byMAFBiosecuritythatplayacritical national level. GenesisEnergy alsocontributes to regional partner management remains ascoordinated andeffective aspossible ata various meetingsandworkshops to helpensure aquaticweed Term ManagementSteering Committee andhave attended Genesis Energy staff are involved atanationallevel intheLong actions locally. public awareness campaigns continue to bethefocus ofdidymo than managementofdidymointheNorthIsland,soon-going kept out.Prevention remains afar better andcost effective option

Local Tourism Industry. The Advocates for theTongariro River Whitewater New Zealand Taupo District Council Manawatu Wanganui RegionalCouncil Waikato RegionalCouncil Tuwharetoa MaoriTrust Board Fish &Game Department ofConservation Ministry ofAgriculture andForestry (MAF)Biosecurity

47 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 48 TONGARIRO // 12 and visitingmedical specialists from Taupo andRotorua. medical emergency care, anaturopath, mental healthservices, clinics, publichealthnurses, elderly care, hearingassessments, one-stop health-shophousesGPs, MedLab,diabetic andother of thecommunity bytheSouthernLake Taupo HealthTrust. The a range ofothersupporters. TheHealthCentre isowned onbehalf to theHealthCentre are theBayTrust, Taupo District Counciland the provision ofhealthcare services inTurangi. Alsocontributing Community HealthCentre, whichaddresses asignificant gapin Genesis Energy isproud to beamajorsponsoroftheTurangi to ensure thetown andcommunity continue to prosper. member ofthecommunity, to provide supportinarange ofareas the company feels asense ofsocialresponsibility, asanyother be asignificant memberofthe Turangi community. It follows that within thetown ofTurangi andGenesisEnergy considers itselfto The Tongariro Power Scheme isasignificant asset andemployer 8.6 TURANGICOMMUNITYHEALTH CENTRE messages around aquatic weeds (Figure 36). signage hasbeendeveloped to helpreinforce key biosecurity spreading aquaticweeds from thissource to otherlakes. New Tokaanu boatramps onLake Taupo to encourage boatiesto avoid Boat wash-down facilities have alsobeenestablished atthe FIGURE 36//New weed signageattheTokaanu boatramps. FIGURE 35//Thenew weed cordon atLake Otamangakau. capacity, raising fundsfor current andfuture needs. Southern Lake Taupo HealthTrust whorunthecentre inalandlord for thecentre. Thisongoingsupportisvery muchappreciated bythe facility withadvice andsupportregarding theenergy requirements Genesis Energy continues to supportthisvery worthwhile community in thebuildingsuchaspodiatrist services, audiology andcounselling. being themaintenants. Othercasual services are alsoprovided for Health,MidlandHealthandLakes District HealthBoard services, from thePath Lab,Plunket, Tuwharetoa HealthServices, The centre isfully occupied witharange ofmedical andsupport being thelatest requirement (Figure 37). needs ofthecommunity withtheinstallation ofautomatic doors date thebuildinghasbeenaltered andenhanced to meetthe September 2008withthesupportofGenesisEnergy. Since this The Turangi CommunityHealthCentre buildingwasopenedin numbers of the local community and visitors to the region (Figure 38). Aquatic Centre continue to bethoroughly enjoyed byincreasing The fourth year ofoperation hasseentheGenesisEnergy Turangi sustainability strategy ofmakingadifference to local communities. economic andsocialprosperity andfits well withGenesisEnergy’s the Turangi CommunityHealthCentre, inTurangi’s long-term sponsorship oftheaquaticcentre isacommunity investment, like sponsor oftheupgraded Turangi AquaticCentre. Theeight-year In January2008GenesisEnergy agreed to bethenamingrights 8.7 GENESISENERGY TURANGIAQUATIC CENTRE FIGURE 37//Turangi CommunityHealthCentre. FI GURE 38// GenesisEnergy Turangi AquaticCentre. boat storage fees andfrom theHarbourMaster viaberthcharges. Funds are generated through hallhireage for private functions, groups, boaties,local waka,kayakers andfishingenthusiasts. The centre iscurrently utilisedbyTurangi Coastguard, rowing support these. water related sportorrecreation activitiesandraise fundsto viable attribute for theregion –thekey objective beingto promote promote thecentre to make theconcept oftheTrust avibrant and Tokaanu MaritimeCharitable Trust. Trust members continue to The Tokaanu Water SportsCentre (Figure 40)ismanagedbythe 8.9 TEWHAREWAKA -TOKAANU WATER SPORTSCENTRE this wonderful programme”. like to thankGenesisEnergy very muchfor theirloyal supportof offer ourchildren well resourced, qualityprogrammes. Iwould of GenesisEnergy over thepast three years we have beenable to Quinlan, whoistheChildren’s Librarian, says“Withthesupport of achievement andattends agrand finale party(Figure 39). Pam each childwhocompletes theprogramme receives acertificate and recording theirreading lists. Attheendofprogramme in thetheme-basedactivitiesaswell ascollecting incentive gifts year anew themeisintroduced andchildren can enjoy partaking relationship between children, libraries andlibrary staff. Each in theirchildren’s reading athome,andto develop apositive summer holidays.Theprogramme alsoaimsto involve caregivers encourages andpromotes thefunofreading to children over the a furtherthree years. TheSummerReadingProgramme Programme, GenesisEnergy hasrenewed sponsorship for With thesuccess oftheTurangi Library SummerReading PROGRAMME SUPPORTEDBYGENESISENERGY. 8.8 TURANGIPUBLICLIBRARY–SUMMERREADING Aquatic Centre. FIGURE 39//SummerReadingprogramme –Celebration atthe FIGURE 40//Te Whare Waka

worked onthescheme’s miles oftunnels. development ofTurangi andtheothertwo onthetunnellers who planning to make afurthertwo films to form atrilogy: oneonthe there wasnowayhecould fititinto oneproduction. Soheis story oftheTongariro Power Development thathequickly realised growth ofTurangi, there were somanydifferent aspectsto the Although Johnhadinitially envisagedmakingafilm covering the overview from inception to completion. because heremained onituntilwasfinished,hehada complete employment onthepower schemewhenconstruction beganand of Turangi somuchthatthefamily soonreturned. Kerrygained bare-footed little Kiwisintow, hemissed thespace andfresh air Five years later, whenhereturned to Britain withawife andthree investigate thepotential for ahydro-electric schemeinthearea. Scotsman whocame to thecentral plateau from Londonin1957to the career ofTurangi engineerKerryScott (Figure 41),ayoung The 52minute film,supported byGenesisEnergy, recounts history oftheTongariro Power Development. John Ballhastold inhisnewest film“TheKerryScott Story” a feats themselves, andisoneofthestories thatTurangi filmmaker it are every partasinteresting andabsorbingastheengineering stories behindthepower schemeandthepeople whoworked on and plenty hasbeenwritten anddocumented aboutit.Thehuman biggest andmost ambitiousengineeringandconstruction projects The Tongariro Power Development wasoneofNew Zealand’s POWER DEVELOPMENT 8.10 THEKERRYSCOTT STORY –HISTORY OFTHETONGARIRO FI GURE 41//

Kerry Scott

49 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 50 TONGARIRO // 12 09 KEY OBJECTIVES 09 KEY OBJECTIVES 2011-12 REVIEW

9.1 REVIEW OF KEY OBJECTIVES FOR 2011–2012

TABLE 20 // Review of key objectives for 2011–2012

Outcome/Initiative and Objectives Action 2011-12 How did we do? Resource Consent Management Implement a training schedule for The Resource Consent Management System was rolled out in complete upgrade of Resource Resource Consent Database and late 2011 and included the integration of third party agreements. Consent Database maximo users Training was provided to RCMS users, and continues to be provided on an as-needs basis.

Whanganui Iwi / Genesis Work with Whanganui River Iwi to Initiatives agreement signed; Resourcing agreement signed; Energy Initiatives Agreement develop and implement an initiatives Wananga held at Pungarehu Marae Implement the Relationship agreement on the Western Diversion Agreement and develop and of the TPS implement an Initiatives Agreement Ngati Rangi / Genesis Energy Work with the Ngati Rangi Trust Regular Relationship meetings held; Connected flows established Relationship Agreement and their Environmental Unit to on Wahianoa and Makahiatoa Implement the Relationship implement the Ngati Rangi / Genesis Agreement E n e r g y R e l a t i o n s h i p A g r e e m e n t . Continue with the implementation of the Wahianoa ‘connected flows’ project Lake Rotoaira Trust Agreement Work with the Trust to review the A variation to the mitigation agreement was agreed and as a Work with the Lake Rotoaira mitigation agreement. Assist the result a Relationship Group has been established. Development Trust to review the mitigation Trust to develop the Lake Rotoaira of the Lake Management Plan is underway agreement Management Plan and contribute to its implementation National Whio Sponsorship Work with the Department of Whio Investment Agreement signed in August 2011; Formal Develop and implement Conservation to develop and implement launch of Whio Forever on 1 March 2012; Investment Committee as effective whio national an effective national whio sponsorship appointed and two meetings held; 5-year Strategic Plan drafted sponsorship agreement agreement. Biosecurity and Aquatic Pest Work with stakeholder organisations Weed Cordon installed at Lake Otamangakau boat ramp; Weed Management Maintain or to help raise awareness of aquatic pest cordon survey and maintenance complete (no hornwort found); improve the current biosecurity issues within the TPS Boat wash down facilities installed at Tokaanu boat ramps; Close status of waterways within liaison maintained with other stakeholder groups; Contribution the TPS Work with stakeholder organisations at national level maintained to help prevent the spread of aquatic pests to, and/or within, the TPS. Spill Response Management Complete training. Complete Roll-out new Oil and Fuel Spill Liaise with stakeholder & emergency Response Proceedures at organisations. Tokaanu Moawhango Shoreline Erosion Complete 5 yearly transect Complete Monitoring Quantify erosion at reassessment in Autumn 2012 the Lake Moawhango Shoreline // 12

ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT ENVIRONMENTAL 51 9.2 KEY OBJECTIVES 2012–2013

Key environmental objectives for the 2012–13 year build on many initiatives and programmes that are already underway.

TABLE 21 // Key objectives for 2012–2013

Outcome/Initiative Objective Action 2012 -13 Whanganui Iwi / Genesis Implement the Relationship, Initiatives Work with Whanganui River Iwi to implement the Relationship, Energy Initiatives Agreement and Resourcing agreements Initiatives and Resourcing agreements; including assessing the implemention of connective flows on the Western Diversion if appropriate

Ngati Rangi / Genesis Energy Implement the Relationship Agreement Work with the Ngati Rangi Trust and their Environmental Unit Relationship Agreement to implement the Ngati Rangi / Genesis Energy Relationship Agreement; Continue with the implementation of the Wahianoa ‘connected flows’ project Lake Rotoaira Trust Work with the Lake Rotoaira Trust Work as part of the Relationship Group to implement the Agreement to implement the varied mitigatation mitigation agreement and assist the Trust to develop and agreement implement the Lake Management Plan

National Whio Sponsorship Continue to implement the National Support Whio Investment Agreement Committee and Technical Whio Investment Agreement Working Group to develop and implement a 5 year strategic plan, a communications plan, and begin Whio Forever advocacy in the South Island Biosecurity and Aquatic Pest Maintain or improve the current Review weed-up management options at Tokaanu Intake; assess Management biosecurity status of waterways within need for weed survey & monitoring; assess weed harvest options; the TPS. undertake annual survey of Lake Otamangakau weed cordon; establish wash-down stations at Lake Rotoaira Construction Debris Removal Remove any construction debris that Develop a Construction Debris Removal Management Plan. poses a safety hazard to river users or Engage with stakeholders and contractors to successfully remove is visually obstructive all construction debris that poses a risk to river users or is visually obstructive

Signage All signage is relevant and reflected in Review signage to ensure consistency with other Genesis Energy the Signage Management System generation assets. Ensure Signage Management System is up-to-date and robust procedures are in place to ensure it is kept up-to-date Volcanic Activity Management Ensure processes and procedures are Review and update the 2006 Volcanic Activity Management robust in the event of volcanic activity Plan (VAMP) Rotoaira Tuna Monitoring & Develop, implement and manage Work with the Runanganui to establish and implement a Tuna Management programme a hapu based tuna monitoring and Management and Monitoring contract, that captures appropriate management programme at Lake health and safety, training and reporting requirements Otamangakau Rotoaira Channel Dredging Successfully manage the environmental Resource consent conditions and third party agreements are fully compliance of the dredging cycl complied with during the dredging project.

The Lake Rotoaira Trust are engaged to assist with the turbidity monitoring. Stakeholders are kept informed or progress and compliance throughout the dredging cycle // 12

TONGARIRO 52 Energy. 10pp. & GameCouncil,Hamilton. UnpublishedReportsfor Genesis Trout Numbers intheWanganui River. Auckland/Waikato Fish Wilson, B.,2012:WhakapapaRiver: 2011DriftDrive Survey & Genesis Energy. Auckland. ClientReport,JobRefNo:27156,Prepared for Monitoring Programme 2011-2012.Tonkin &Taylor Limited, Tonkin &Taylor Limited, 2012:Tongariro Power SchemeRiver Christchurch. quantification oftheeffect ofincreased residual flows. NIWA Ltd, Suggested biological metric to meetconsent requirements, and Suren, A.,Biggs,B.andWeatherhead, M.2002:Moawhango River: Unpublished Reportto GenesisEnergy. NIWA Hamilton. 43pp. NIWA ClientReportHAM2012-063.NIWA Project: GPL12203. Whanganui River Catchment below theWestern Diversion –2011. Baldwin, T., Boubee,J.,andSmith,2012:FishintheUpper Genesis Energy. 6pp. & GameCouncil,Palmerston North.UnpublishedReportfor June 2012.Reportto GenesisPower Limited. Wellington Fish Pilkington, S.,2012:Rangitikei River Catchment Trout Monitoring, Data File 2012.172pp. Ministry ofEconomic Development, 2012.New ZealandEnergy Report, GenesisEnergy, Tokaanu, 51pp. Environmental Report–1July 2009to 30June2010.Unpublished Genesis Power Limited, 2011:Tongariro Power Scheme–Annual Assessment ofEnvironmental Effects. Genesis Power Limited, 2000:Tongariro Power Development – Consultants Ltd,Taupo. 84pp. 2012. UnpublishedReportfor GenesisEnergy Limited. Cheal Monitoring Survey Report.ReportNo.2010-06702,27June Cheal Consultants Ltd,2012:Lake Moawhango,Waiouru -Erosion Conservation, RuapehuArea Office, 30pp. 2011. UnpublishedReportfor GenesisEnergy. Departmentof Streams (Mangatepopo, Whanganui&Whakapapa)December Beath, A.,2012:Blueduck(whio)monitoring onWestern Diversion 10 REFERENCES

53 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12 TONGARIRO POWER SCHEME MAP // 12

56 TONGARIRO // 12 57 ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT // 12