Rotorua steam given urgency

Press, 27 May 1983, Page 1

Rotorua steam given urgency

PA Wellington A task force has been given a month to find ways of reducing the demands on the Rotorua geothermal field. The task force, comprising officials of the Ministry of Energy, the Rotorua District Council, the D.5.1.R., the Ministry of Works, and the Tourist and Publicity Department, was established yesterday.

The Minister of Energy, Mr Birch, said it would start work immediately. It will recommend ways of reducing the amount of energy drawn from the field, particularly the part that includes . tjie Whakarewarewa geysers?

“The Whakarewarewa field is of great importance to the New Zealand tourist industry. That is why I want the study done immediately,” said Mr Birch. A Government group had been monitoring the geothermal field and although it would have done the work in time “it has now become

a very pressing matter,” Mr Birch said. “We cannot wait for the monitoring group to take its time over the measurements over the next two years—some more urgent action is required because of the changes that have taken place.” The task force, established after a meeting yesterday of Cabinet Ministers and Rotorua area members of Parliament, would: ® Ask all big users of geothermal steam to reduce their offtake.

® Identify the problems in controlling the field’s output. ® Assess short-term measures for reducing the offtake. ® Study ways of converting big users to other forins of energy. • Identify incentives or changes in legislation that might be needed to allow the recommendations to be put in place. Mr Birch also released the latest report of the

monitoring group. The group said that since 1979 several springs and the Papakuara Geyser had failed. Many had grown smaller, including two that stopped boiling this year. It said there appeared to be a long-term drop in pressure in the field and “artificial draw-off is probably the main contributor to this decline.” The group said a reduction in draw-off seemed to provide the only chance of increasing pressure or at least holding it at its present level.

However, it was not possible to predict when other features at Whakarewarewa might fail if the present level of use continued or whether a reduction in use would lead to failed springs becoming active again. The group noted that any action to reduce geothermal use significantly would affect many people. There were more than 1500 users of geothermal steam.