Issue 923 - 10 November 2020 Phone (07) 866 2090 Circulation 8,000 Whitianga first in line for water meters By Gillian O’Neill Whitianga residents and business will be first in line to have water meters installed at their properties if proposals by Thames- Coromandel District Council go ahead as planned. While TCDC has undertaken to ask the public for their views on water meters as part of their Long Term Plan consultations, the roll-out appears to be a done deal for Whitianga and also Whangamata, with a funding agreement already submitted to central government. In his latest report to elected council members, Chief Executive Rob Williams confirmed the plan to use the first tranche of funding from the government’s Three Waters Reform Programme, worth $2.4 million in total, to pay for meters in the two towns. Thames already has water meters. “Central government’s Three Waters Reform is progressing as previously indicated,” Mr Williams informed elected members. “The Memorandum of Agreement between council and the Department of Internal Affairs was signed and submitted in August. The associated draft funding agreement was submitted in September identifying the projects proposed to be funded. The proposed projects include the Part of the Whitianga Waterways on Saturday last week. installation of water meters in Whitianga and Whitianga will be one of the first towns on the Coromandel Peninsula where water meters will be installed. Whangamata, along with a small allowance for continuing to investigate any wider a $33 million regional pool allocated to because it’s not a tax and it’s not a rate, Affairs, the aim of the programme is to address regional opportunities.” the Waikato. it’s actually a utility bill.” what it describes as “...underinvestment in TCDC will receive a further two funding While TCDC will initially utilise the water Mr Williams said legislation associated with three waters infrastructure in parts of the instalments from the Three Waters Reform meters to monitor usage and supply and the Three Waters Reform Programme was country and persistent affordability issues,” Programme over the next two years. identify leaks, a user pays service where likely to be introduced to Parliament before while ensuring there is “...additional Both population and land area were used to consumers receive a monthly water bill is the Christmas. While details were still unclear, investment to meet improvements in determine how much each council receives. ultimate goal, according to Mr Williams. this is likely to involve the establishment of freshwater outcomes, increase resilience The funding is notional and specific projects “The creation of a utility bill is actually a number of regional publicly owned entities to climate change and natural hazards, need to go back to the Department of Internal the way forward for filling the infrastructure to oversee and manage both water and and enhance community wellbeing.” Affairs for final approval. funding gap that we have in New Zealand,” wastewater services, with discussions still Responding to queries from council If TCDC can partner with any other Mr Williams told the 27 October meeting of underway around the inclusion of stormwater. members, Mr Williams said there were still districts in developing regional solutions the full council. “In the way that power How this will impact on costs for ratepayers many questions as to how the new system with regards to the delivery of water services, companies send bills… we need the ability has yet to be fully determined. would operate, but a clearer picture should it may also be able access further funds from to send a water invoice on a monthly basis According to the Department of Internal emerge by December. Distributed throughout the Coromandel Peninsula, coast to coast from Thames to north of Colville - www.theinformer.co.nz Changing skies provide inspiration for some stunning images “Golden or Blue Hour” was the challenge topic for members of the Whitianga Photographic Club in October, stars coming out towards the end of blue hour at Hooker Lake in the South Island. Second was Sean King, in addition to the usual open category. with Anita Ruggle-Lussy in third. Golden hour is the period of the day just before the sun sets or after it rises when the light is redder and Voting by club members in the open category was extremely tight with just three points separating the softer than usual. Photographs taken during this time have a pleasing quality and produce warm tones. top three entries. Sean King triumphed with his Te Horo Rock image (pictured on the right), with Wendy Blue hour is the period of twilight each morning and evening where there is neither full daylight nor Pemberton in second and Karen Moffatt-McLeod third. complete darkness, so everything has a blue light and produces cool tones More images can be viewed on the club’s public Facebook page, “Whitianga Photographic Club.” The set challenge was won resoundingly by Hakan Nedjat with his image (pictured on the left) of the What’s happening in the night sky? Night sky information provided and sponsored by Week of Wednesday, 11 November to Wednesday, 18 November - New Zealand company, Rocket Lab, hopes to launch another 30 small satellites anytime from 14 November onwards on its 17th mission from Mahia Peninsula. The big change with this launch is that company CEO, Peter Beck, is hoping to recover the booster. It will parachute down and be picked up from the ocean. The next step a few launches later will be to snag the booster mid-air with a helicopter as it comes down on a parachute. Beck’s small rockets can’t carry enough extra fuel to land on terra firma, like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, so mid-air recovery is the only option. If successful, this will save Rocket Lab the cost and time to build new boosters for each launch and allow a lot more launches each year. Jupiter and Saturn still remain very noticeable high overhead in the early evenings. They are getting ever closer together and moving towards their very rare meeting in December. Reddish Mars is a lovely sight but much lower down in the east, while bright Astronomy Tours and B&B Venus is unmistakable low in the eastern dawn sky. Thursday, 12 November - The crescent Moon is visible at dawn just to the left of bright Venus. Phone (07) 866 5343 Friday, 13 November - An even thinner Moon lies just below and to the left of Venus in the dawn sky. Saturday, 14 November - It might be possible to catch a last glimpse of faint Mercury very low in the pre-dawn sky immediately to the right and slightly above a tiny crescent Moon. www.stargazersbb.com Whitianga and Hot Water Beach tides Tides data sponsored by nzwindows.co.nz 4 Dakota Drive Whitianga Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Tel 07 869 5990 Page 2 The Mercury Bay Informer - www.theinformer.co.nz Issue 923 - 10 November 2020 Great Mercury Bay support for Operation Christmas Child People all around Mercury Bay have once again been shopping large and imaginatively for small things to pack into boxes for Operation Christmas Child (OCC), an appeal run annually by the charity, Samaritan’s Purse. This year the boxes are going to remote villages in Fiji, Cambodia, Malawi and Madagascar. Saturday, 31 October was the deadline for getting the boxes away. Donations and gifts were stacked up at collection points all around the Coromandel. Sunday, 25 October was earmarked for “packing day” at St Andrew’s by the Sea Community Church in Whitianga, where gifts and donations had been coming in for weeks in advance. Local OCC coordinator, Robyn Balfour, came to help the packing team. All manner of small toys was packed, together with items of clothing and personal hygiene. Boxes were labelled by age and gender. Robyn says each year Samaritan’s Purse identifies the most needy places where the charity has a presence and every child in those villages is invited to take a box. “I would love to be there to see their faces when they open their boxes,” Robyn says. This year, the Coromandel Peninsula contributed a total of 228 boxes to the Operation Christmas Child appeal. Mercury Bay alone contributed 119 boxes. Pictured are the St Andrew’s packing team on 25 October. From the left - Annie Lynch, Robyn Balfour, Elizabeth Nicholls, Julie St George, Sue Hutson, Gina Mahmud and Garth Hutson. Issue 923699 - 1027 NovemberJuly 2016 2020 The Mercury Bay Informer - www.theinformer.co.nz Page 3 Efforts to secure more pensioner housing in Whitianga stepped up By Gillian O’Neill With a waiting list of 36 people in need of fully tenanted. Alison said all the tenants were accommodation, efforts are being stepped on very low incomes and could not otherwise up by the Mercury Bay Community Fund afford to house themselves. She went on to (MBCF) to secure more pensioner housing highlight the suitability of the School Road in Whitianga. location. “The land must be available for long The MBCF, a charitable trust which already term lease and the site needs to be flat, she said. owns and administers nine pensioner units in “Most of the residents use mobility scooters, Kenneth Avenue, has identified a section of so it is essential the site is close to services Thames-Coromandel District Council-owned such as supermarkets and medical facilities.” land at the School Road Reserve as a potential MBCF secretary, John Stephenson, also site for development and has begun canvassing spoke at the meeting and emphasised that any support from elected officials. development would be cost free for council, In both a written letter and an in-person with the trust meeting all statutory regulation appeal to the Mercury Bay Community and building costs.