TANK collaborative process (Hawke’s Bay)
In 2012 we started working with the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, which has convened a collaborative stakeholder group to recommend water quantity and quality limits for the Greater Heretaunga and Ahuriri catchment plan change.
The collaborative group, referred to locally as the TANK group (*an acronym for the Tūtaekuri, Ahuriri, Ngaruroro, and Karamu river catchments), is made up of approximately 30 representatives from agricultural, horticultural, and public health sectors, environmental and community interest groups, regional and district councils, and tangata whenua.
The catchment area is the economic engine of Hawke’s Bay, containing thousands of hectares of highly productive farms, orchards, and vineyards that rely on access to water for irrigation. The catchments, where most of the residents of Hawke’s Bay live and enjoy their leisure, are also the ancestral home of many Māori hapū who retain strong connections to water and land and who are concerned by the reduced access to mahinga kai species and the declining state of rivers, lakes, wetlands, and estuaries.
The learnings from the TANK process are documented under collaborative processes.