Face to Face Engagement with Mana Whenua: Waikouaiti WTP Upgrade
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James Taylor – Beca Ltd
Korako Edwards – Aukaha
Merchen Naidoo – Dunedin City Council
“Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki have a deep and enduring spiritual connection to the Waikouaiti River. This paramount awa flows through the Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki takiwā and has provided nourishment for the people for
generations.”1
Kanohi ki te kanohi can mean face to face, eye to eye or in the flesh. Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki continue to value this medium of engagement in the age of technology and video conferencing. This paper explains how early Kanohi ki te kanohi engagement with mana whenua on their home grounds has been used in the delivery of the Waikouaiti Water Treatment Plant Upgrade.
Dunedin City Council’s (DCC) Three Waters team is on a journey toward te tiriti partnership with mana whenua. As part of the Waikouaiti Water Treatment Upgrade project DCC and Beca reached out to mana whenua via their consulting arm Aukaha prior to concept design stage to establish a partnership approach to the project.
The project team were directed by Aukaha toward the East Otago Taiāpure Committee (the committee) which meets monthly at Rūnaka premises in Karitāne. One of the ways Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki exercise their chieftainship over their local waterways and coasts is through the taiāpure committee and mātaitai reserve. Following attendance at the first committee meeting in May 2021, it was agreed that a project representative should attend monthly to provide real time updates and seek input as the project develops kanohi ki te kanohi.
Face to face attendance by a project representative was maintained most months through the decision-making phase of the project from May 2021 until February 2023. The face-to-face nature of the engagement facilitated timely information exchange and the ability for the project team to listen to the concerns of mana whenua and the community as the project evolved.
The nature of the conversation was always respectful but not always straightforward. Project team representatives were regularly and sometimes sternly remined by kaumātua not to treat this river like any other – it is different. Mana whenua were clear throughout the engagement that the Waikouaiti River is under pressure and that the water take should ultimately cease and be replaced by an alternative water source. However, medium term improvements were supported in the interim, in part, due to the need to uphold te hauora o kā tangata me kā hapori (the health of the people and the community).
The early and regular kanohi ki te kanohi engagement resulted in tangible changes to the project including optimisation of water take rates, new backwash discharge planting solutions, improved access for mana whenua to the awa and mana to mana meetings that will be described in detail in the paper.
The engagement ultimately led to written approval from mana whenua for two resource consent applications related to the work and an ongoing commitment from DCC to continue engagement at key stages and in key supporting management plans as the project moves from design into the delivery stage