Thread by @jpdanner

This narrative that the Titirangi community is fully against this water plan pisses me off.

I live just down the road and I am fully behind Watercare on this - they've really taken a lot of effort to do everything right.

https://twitter.com/TheSpinoffTV/status/1146554426393366529

The current water treatment plant is nearly a hundred years old. It needs to be replaced if we want to continue to have access to the water captured in the Waitakeres.

Even though they had land right next to the existing water plant that was already consented for the new water plant, they reviewed many alternative build sites.

The final two were Oratia and the land next to the existing plant.

The Oratia site would have had much less environmental impact as the majority of the site was already developed, but it would have displaced homes and businesses.

Basically the community said "no".

I'm actually ok with this as the infrastructure changes to shift all the piping to the new plant in Oratia would have been significant, while the changes in piping leading to the new plant are negligible.

So now we're left with the only option being to build in Titirangi right next to the old plant on land that is already consented for that purpose.

Watercare has brought in 2 different ecology firms to assess the environmental impact and identify key plants and species.

Their plan, as I understand it, is to try and build the plant to preserve as many rare/endangered trees as possible and to remove/replant trees where feasible, and to plant a multiple of native bush on another site to replace the bush lost to the plant.

I have toured the existing plant, sat in on community meetings, and personal spoken with the ecologists who surveyed the site.

I live almost next door. This impacts me more than almost anyone.

And I honestly cannot understand the push by a few loud advocates against the water plant. It is the most innocuous industrial plant it could be possible to live near.

It is quiet, clean, and provides us with CLEAN BEAUTIFUL WAITAKERE WATER.

There is an option to essentially bulldoze the existing plant and build the new plant on top of it.

But that would take years. I'm told 7-10. During that time, no water from the Waitakeres would be able to be processed and used. Thats 20% of Auckland's current water consumption.

We'd have to first build a new plant elsewhere that had the additional capacity to supply that loss of drinking water, and there are no plans in place to do so in the near term.

Running the existing plant alongside the construction of the new plant is by far the best option.

What really struck me is how much effort Watercare has been putting into mitigating the impact of any bush removed or affected by the new water plant.

I had a conversation with some of the protestors in Titirangi after one of the public meetings.

It didn't go well.

https://twitter.com/jpdanner/status/1097082601817268224

So @TheSpinoffTV, I generally love your reporting, but I also hold you up to a high standard.

I know that you can find the other sides to this story.