Cobb Reservoir Level Dangerously Low

By GALE, Hayley

A lack of rain has seen the level of the Cobb Reservoir in Golden Bay fall to just 1.6m above its minimum operating height.

TrustPower spokesman Graeme Purches said Friday night’s rain had made little difference to the “very low” water level in the Cobb lake. The current water level is 795.6m above sea level, just 150cm higher than the last recorded level on April 1. If the level falls to 794m, the dam has to stop generating electricity under the terms of its resource consent.

Mr Purches said insufficient rain was affecting the whole South Island. In addition, two power stations in the North Island were not generating power.

“The Cobb power station is still running but we are limiting the amount we are dragging out of it to the absolute minimum to conserve as much water as possible. We’ve had nothing like the rainfall needed so far. Climate change is alive and well,” he said. While TrustPower was “not panicking” about the winter yet, everyone in the industry was trying to limit the use of hydro power nationally.

He said much publicity had surrounded the prediction that electricity prices would continue to rise nationally because of insufficient rain and a dependence on hydro power.

A lack of rain also caused problems for the Cobb Power Station in 2001, 2003 and 2006 and demand for electricity was increasing all the time. The company is looking at building new hydro schemes in Marlborough and the West Coast, and aSouth Island wind farm. Mr Purches said the Nelson region was “not windy enough” to justify a wind farm and there were no suitable sites.

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