story caption
By Jamie Melbourne-Hayward
Public requests to spruce up the Hutt River are difficult to implement due to the youthful vigour of the waterway, says Councillor Margaret Cousins. Submissions to the council?s Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP) included various wishes to see something more made of the Hutt River as an asset. One gentleman says he would like to see, ?Promoted use of the Hutt River as it?s an asset that?s not utilised (BBQ, swimming, canoeing, concerts, and river taxi)?. Another suggested, ?A swimming hole in the Hutt River (with deck, swings, picnic tables, plantings), and beautifying the Hutt River?. Mrs Cousins, who sits on the council?s Hutt River Advisory Committee says, ?We would need to build a weir on the river to provide enough water for those sorts of activities?. A weir, also known as a low head dam, is a small overflow-type dam commonly used to raise the level of a river or stream. Weirs have traditionally been used to create mill ponds, and such structures are commonly found in Europe to support various activates. ?The types of river people imagine for these activities are older, slow-flowing, mature European rivers. ?But the Hutt River is a young river, very fast flowing, and for a river in such close proximity to a city, it has a lot of trout in it,? says Mrs Cousins. She says the council have looked at building a weir ?from time to time?, but the option has never been feasible given the rivers nature. ?Our work on the Advisory Committee is mostly about flood protection issues, and building bridges over the river,? Mrs Cousins says. The LTCCP has now been finalised, laying out Hutt City funding proprieties for the coming ten years.
