Reservoir site contested

Press, 1 June 1984, Page 1

Reservoir site contested

By

STAN DARLING

A Port Hills landowner wants to know why the Christchurch City Council is insisting on the use of his Glenelg Spur quarry, which he has started to develop, for a future reservoir. Mr Harvey Armstrong said yesterday that he had not known about the City Council’s plans until he applied for a cross-bound-ary agricultural water supply. His quarry is in Heathcote County, just across the boundary. He said that council engineers had told him in 1982 that a water supply was not possible, but that they were interested in the site for a reservoir. It seemed that council staff had been surveying on his property for some time, he told a Heathcote County Council planning hearing this week, but he had not known of their interest when he bought the land and adjoining hillside property earlier in 1982. The county hearing has

been adjourned for an onsite inspection on Tuesday. In March, the City Council served notice on the county that it required the site uphill from the Glenelg Health Camp for a reservoir, associated access, and pipe easement. Mr Armstrong told the hearing that a more suitable site, on the next spur above Woolston, was available. An area of 11.3 ha (28 acres) is on the market for $57,000. That property, which touches Port Hills Road in three places, already contains the Heathcote County reservoir on Rocky Point. About half of that property covers a possible city reservoir site considered by the City Council but rejected because it could be an environmental eyesore. The site, near the county reservoir, would require a large excavation. Mr Armstrong said that the City Council, which would not need the new reservoir for 10 to 15 years, could acquire the other site and start planting trees now to stabilise the slope and

sight-screen a reservoir. “I agree it would be ugly there unless trees are planted,” he said. Such a reservoir would be closer to the Woolston industrial area. City Council engineers told the hearing that increasing water demands were being placed on the city by industries in Woolston and Linwood. They said that a Glenelg Spur reservoir, sunk in the quarry floor, would be less visible from residential areas below. Mr Armstrong said that development of the quarry reservoir site would disrupt the Glenelg Health Camp and the residential area leading up to it from the Port Hills Road. He planned to build a house on part of his property, near the quarry, and it would be hard to imagine the amount of disruption that would be caused by the constant movement of heavy trucks to and from the site.

“We would have to put up with the continual noise of heavy machinery, air drills, blastings, and the passage of thousands of truck trips,” he told the county hearing. It could take three years to complete the reservoir, he said. Mr Armstrong, who is a Railways Corporation engineer, said that his experience of earthworks led him to estimate that from 50,000 to 70,000 cu m of rock would have to be removed to prepare for the maximum reservoir capacity (36,000 cu m) contemplated by the City Council. He had excavated a pond, partly fed by a spring, in the quarry. That pond was already used as a refuge by ducks. He planned to develop the rest of the site with such things as an orchard and milking shed. He has about 80 Angora goats on the hillside land, and could diversify into dairy goats and horticulture. Mr Armstrong said that council engineers had not answered questions asked 15 months ago, about such aspects as access to 80 per cent of his property when the reservoir, which straddles farm access roads, was developed. The reservoir site requirement robbed his property of the largest piece of virtually level ground, he told the hearing. A pipeline easement planned for the reservoir would involve earthworks down unstable slopes, and the land would be difficult to restore and retain. Mr Armstrong said the quarry site had been designated in a former Heathcote Courg>- District Scheme as a

recreation reserve, “and now they are going to deface it by putting a reservoir in it.” “But if the council want the land they have got to start talking to me,” he said. Mr L. J. Draijer confirmed to “The Press,” that his adjacent property was on the market for about $57,000. The City Council had told him in 1982 that it was looking for a site including a corner of the

but he had not heard from it since. The Heathcote County engineer, Mr D. J. May, told the hearing that it was clear that the City Council had adequately considered other possible reservoir sites. He said it was not clear how access to other parts of Mr Armstrong’s property would be cut by the reservoir site, and it would be possible to build reservoirs without destroying the natural spring that supplied

his stock. There would be little disruption to farming activities, said Mr May, but reservoir construction would probably be harmful for the area as a bird refuge and breeding ground. A North Canterbury Catchment Board submission to the hearing said the chosen site was “definitely favoured.” An erosion risk existed along the steep pipe easement, but problems could be avoided, it said. Mr M. J. Stockwell, the City Council design engineer, told the hearing that the city’s water demand would increase significantly over the next two or three decades, and it was essential to secure land in the general area for a storage reservoir of between 23,000 and 36,500 cu.m, (five million to eight million gallons). The quarry site was big enough to contain larger capacity reservoirs without “any further unsightly hillside bench excavation,” he said. Some improving of the road through the Glenelg Health Camp would be required for contractors and later access, he said. Mr I. F. Crosbie, the CityCouncil waterworks engineer, said the city’s projected water consumption was 95,000 cu.m, a day by the year 2000, compared with the present average daily demand of 75,000 cu m. The McCormacks Bayreservoir now being built would increase the city’s present 75,000 cu.m storage capacity, by 5500 cu.m, just meeting the demand. That reservoir would supply areas east of the Ferrymead bridge. A Heathcote County Council decision on the city's requirement is expected R later this month.