This is the first plan produced for the Greater Wellington Region that views the river as a holistic, living, changing entity. It lays out a 30 and 70 year vision for better flood protection and the gradual improvement and restoration of a living corridor, pristine water, flora and fauna (including aquatic species) for better environmental, cultural, social and economic outcomes, for the river, from the gorge to the confluence with the Ruamahanga. It is prepared by the community, Tangata Whenua, all other stakeholders, and GWRC under the leadership of a Project Team reporting to the community and all stakeholders, statutory and otherwise.

A Foreword for the Waiōhine

Kei te mihi mahana ki nga whanau o Waiohine, ki nga whanau o Kuratawhiti me ki nga whanau o Wairarapa. Warm greetings to the families of the Waiohine, to the families of Greytown and to the families of Wairarapa.

Two ways that New Zealand recognises the mana or the importance of water is through viewing water holistically and through its connections that makes our waters integrated. This is not a new concept for people who live in the Waiohine Catchment. When this community decided they would like to be more involved in some of the characteristics associated with water, flooding, they brought a collective consciousness to this task. The Waiohine Plan then is the combination of holistic and interconnected views of water in the Waiohine space we share.

Living in a province named after glistening waters, not just from our waterways, but named after the attachment we have to the place we call home. As a community people who are our neighbours started a journey that considered costs and infrastructure amongst many things, but a community became WAG, the Waiohine Action Group because our work became about the place we call home. The complexity that is about building a resilient pathway for a swollen river, includes the complexity that builds a community. Making a living in the Waiohine catchment is more than economic wellbeing, it can also be about environmental wellbeing, social wellbeing and cultural wellbeing. You know you’re from the social catchment that is the Waiohine catchment when you know the river. When you can match the feeling of how a person by themselves, or the feeling with your family, can go to a place on the river because it leads you to a better standard of living. It’s the common unity in our community. It’s the marker of home that Maori present in the pepeha. Ko Waiohine toku awa or Waiohine is my river.

The holistic view of our community and of the place we call home has been a unifying vision, but the whole is made up of different parts, including the Waiohine. While a river in flood flows at a level and in pathways that are alarming, this is the product of multiple pathways. How all these water routes, from the sky through precipitation, to a surface above the soil and through the soil that might emerge through seeps or springs to connect with the Waiohine in flood. These are connections we can understand so we can make better decisions in planning for the river that runs through us. The water contacts with different types of soils; a range of habitats for flora and fauna. Wateris a foundation resource for people from an essential element like drinking water, to a commercial opportunity in the agricultural industry and even a recreational place that entertains us. Water can connect with us negatively too as floods threaten to sweep away valuable items like homes, not just the brick and mortar of a house, but the space of heart felt memories of a family. As the Waiohine Action Group confronted all of these concepts and more ideas, the contributors, from the consistent faces to those who shared the space intermittently, arrived at this, the Waiohine Plan.

Most will see this response as a plan for a joined up community, look just a little deeper, you’ll see a catchment, you’ll see a river. Ko Waiohine tatou, we are the Waiohine.