In 2017 Pakistan had flooding that was as bad as it is now, so why didn’t the Pakistan government take action back then to dredge its rivers and to stop people from re-building back against the river banks in critical areas?
If they had done the work after the 2017 flood (which all the weather science people said would happen again and again), would we have seen the damage done now in the recent flooding in Pakistan?
There are examples of governments where they have taken actions to reduce the effects of flooding and other types of natural disasters on communities after major weather related events have occurred.
One such example is the Lower Waikato Flood Protection Scheme which was put in place after the 1958 flood, by the then government, to not only protect the community and farmers from further flooding events but to protect vital national infrastructure too.
But like everything time moves on and now we see the present Labour government blaming climate change for natural disasters being worse, and while events at times may be very bad, the inaction of the government to giving clear direction and support to maintain these schemes that were put in place with government subsidies, these events are only going to impact on communities more and more.
A classic example of this is the government diverting road related tax monies away from maintaining and improving our roading networks to make sure these communities can move around and allow them to get emergency services when required.
Much of the current government income is being spent on ideologically driven social engineering projects that while they may be nice to have in many cases they are not necessarily needed immediately and could be quite easily prioritised for a later completion.
With all of the unexpected costs that NZ has had to bear in relation to the Covid pandemic and the measures to contain it, the government seems to have lost focus on the critical infrastructure that is required to protect our current lifestyles.
So New Zealand should learn from the events such as the flooding in Pakistan, and be planning to keep our infrastructure up to standard and implement new structures/processes, where people are living in situations where they may be at risk from natural events, to allow as quick a recovery as possible if a natural disaster should occur.
Another example of the current government failing to adequately plan for the future infrastructure needs of NZ is in the recent infrastructure planning document released by government. In this whole document while it discusses at great length, the infrastructure that needs to be protected in the case of natural disasters and to accommodate population increases, there is very little mention of the need for aggregate supplies.
Wastewater systems provide a critical service to society, and their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change places the health and sanitation of many communities at risk.
Because many towns and cities rely on old and often degraded pipes, and during heavy storms, their pipes could overflow and wash sewage into rivers and the ocean. The raging waters and erosion could also worsen blockages and damage pipes and treatment plants.
This may overload their systems and have a detrimental effect on water quality in streams, swimming and the collecting of kaimoana.
Many residents pay little attention to wastewater and Infrastructure capable of dealing with the extremes will be expensive. Research has shown that we need to engage with our communities to decide what level of service is OK as we will have to spend a lot more money to future proof our infrastructure.
The trouble being that none of our infrastructure will be able to be upgraded or even maintained, without an adequate supply of aggregates and under the current planning rules and legislation, it is almost impossible to guarantee a supply of aggregate.
If there are no allowances made in regional and district planning, for the provision of a supply of aggregates then there will be no realistic chance of achieving any of the goals for infrastructure development and maintenance.
Without a guaranteed supply of aggregates then society and its infrastructure will cease to exist in its current form. Aggregate is an absolute necessity of the developed environment in which we live.
No aggregates means no roading maintenance or development; no drainage materials; no concrete for manufacture of pipes for the drainage; no concrete for construction; no builders mix for the home handyman; in fact in a very short time if there is no aggregate supply then there is no economic activity at all.
In relation to the maintenance and development of infrastructure, the first and most important basic requirement is to have a guaranteed supply of aggregates.
In New Zealand we consume approximately eight tonnes of aggregates per head of population per year on an ongoing basis just to maintain society as we know it today. In times of reduced economic activity this figure can drop below four tonnes per head of population and in times of escalated activity the figure can rise to more than ten tonnes per head of population.
Usually the major supplies of aggregates are located in mainly rural land but the changing land uses of the areas surrounding the current quarry sites can result in an environment where quarrying is seen as an activity that must be removed from the proximity to those areas therefore causing it to stop and move further from those areas.
Yet aggregates can only be produced where nature has provided the natural rock resources and this dictates where quarries can be sited.
This move to shift quarries then has the effect of raising the costs of aggregates to the end users and has a flow on effect of reducing the amount of infrastructure maintenance or development that can be undertaken for the same amount of money, due to increased costs.
When you transport quarry products, you raise the price significantly with distance.
The heavy traffic also has a huge effect on the infrastructure requirements over and above the actual supply issues and on climate change issues such as the use of fossil fuels and the greenhouse gas effects from that.
A guaranteed supply of aggregates is the first issue that needs to be addressed when setting the planning priorities for infrastructure development and maintenance.
The reasons behind this opinion are as follows:
A supply of aggregates is the most crucial underpinning support requirement for all infrastructure maintenance and development.
Without a supply of rock society as we know it today cannot exist. We will soon be back to living a subsistence style similar to that which existed before the stone age man used the first piece of rock as a tool.
Peter Buckley