Aotearoa’s first large-scale dam to be built in the last 30 years has finally been completed – two years later than planned.
The Waimea Dam – which can hold more than 13 billion litres of water in its reservoir – has been in the pipeline for 20 years following a big dry summer.
"Opening the valve, getting the water into the river certainly eased the impact of the drought on the community," Waimea Water’s Mike Scott told 1News.
It's the first to be built since central Otago's Clyde Dam but the project has been plagued with problems, from unstable geology to delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
While it was expected to come with a $105 million price tag, the cost has since ballooned to $198 million and could increase further as a dispute with contractors drags on.
"We have a huge deficit in this country of infrastructure generally and what this shows is it’s bloody expensive and very difficult to do," Tasman Mayor Tim King said.
Some residents opposed the dam from the very beginning.
"It's not needed. It was not needed at all," Richmond resident Maxwell Clark said.
"It’s not wanted and it's going to financially cripple the ratepayers in the Tasman District."
The dam was made in partnership between the council and local irrigators.
"The advantage of large community projects like this is that it benefits the whole community," Waimea Irrigators' Murray King said.
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