Environmental Assessment of Alternative Operations - Lake Rotoiti

Bay of Plenty Regional Council's Rivers and Drainage Group (now re-named the Environmental Hazards Group) and iwi partners Te Arawa Lakes Trust have jointly developed a Proposed Operational Strategy for Lake Rotoiti as part of a resource consent renewal process for the Okere Gates and Ohau Channel Weir structures. A wide range of potential operating options were investigated by the project partners including maintaining the status quo and conversion back to a more natural environment, without any lake control structures. Each option had merits and challenges and different stakeholders favoured different options depending on their unique perspectives.

This paper describes the operating options investigated. It outlines reasons why stakeholders favoured different options and the process the project partners went through to finally settle upon their proposed operating strategy. It details the impacts of the proposed operating strategy and the mitigation measures recommended offsetting adverse effects identified.

The paper will demonstrate how performance criteria were developed during consultation with a diverse range of stakeholders and how the proposed option was formulated using an assessment of environmental effects and best professional judgment.