Watercare confirms second financial support payment of $1 million to Mahurangi oyster farmers

Watercare has confirmed that a second financial support payment of $1 million was made on 23 December to Mahurangi oyster farmers affected by the late-October wastewater overflow in the Mahurangi River.

The payment follows an initial $1 million payment made in November to provide immediate financial support while the full impact of the incident continues to be independently assessed.

The independent loss assessment is still being completed, with further analysis required before the assessor can finalise conclusions. Watercare will then be in a position to confirm any final payments across affected farms based on an accurate loss assessment analysis.

Watercare chief operations officer Mark Bourne said the second payment reflects Watercare’s commitment to providing support while the independent assessment is completed.

“This incident should not have happened,” says Bourne.

“It arose from a unique chain of events, including a power outage compounded by failures in alerting and monitoring systems not operating as intended.

“This second payment is intended to provide further support while the independent loss assessor completes a farm-by-farm assessment of losses directly linked to the October event.”

An independent loss assessor with aquaculture expertise was appointed to assess losses on an individual farm basis, recognising that impacts vary depending on harvest cycles, business size, and cost structures.

Further information on the incident, the assessment process, and next steps is available in the accompanying public explainer.

Actions taken

Since the incident, Watercare has taken a number of steps to support affected farmers and to reduce the likelihood of a similar event occurring again. These include:

• Making a total of $2 million in payments while the independent loss assessment process is completed

• Appointing an independent loss assessor with aquaculture expertise to determine final loss amounts as quickly and fairly as possible

• Commissioning two independent investigations into the cause of the incident to ensure appropriate mechanical and process-related improvements are carried out.