A group of farmers in Hawke's Bay is demanding immediate action be taken over silt a company's damaged dam is discharging into the Waiau river.
The farmers said the discharge from Waihi Dam is hitting them financially as it is stopping them from being able to pump water from the stream for their stock.
The Hawke's Bay Regional Council is today in urgent meetings with the dam owner, Eastland Group, to enforce an abatement notice to stop it discharging the silt.
It is coming through a sluice gate damaged when the gate was opened by Eastland Group during a storm in late November.
Jean Martin and her husband, who are sheep and beef farmers in Wairoa, are furious about the situation, as it has already cost them a $5000 water pump.
She said along with three other farmers, they pay a combined $2000 in fixed electricity line costs a month for a service they can not use anymore as it will destroy more pumps.
"Once we discovered the silt getting into the pumps, it was all switched off. It's too risky to even think about putting the submersible pump back into the river because of all the silt there," she said.
The regional council issued an abatement notice on Christmas Eve and again on 6 January.
The farmers want the discharge to stop and financial compensation for both power costs and their inability to use the river water.
