Power demand puts rivers under threat 

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New Zealand's increasing demand for power means the country's remaining wild and scenic rivers are under threat.

Environmental and recreational groups fear the race to generate more electricity is also targeting the last undeveloped rivers for hydro dams.

Meridian Energy wants to build the largest dam since the Clyde Power Scheme.

The Mokihinui River on the South Island's West Coast is just one of what Forest and Bird describe as a "deluge" of new proposals to dam rivers for hydro electric development.

"We're just going to lose far more in terms of some of the intrinsic and natural values in New Zealand than we're ever going to gain for a small amount of electricity," says Mark Bellingham from Forest and Bird.

The idea of damming and flooding 14 kilometres of the Mokihinui River and inundating hundreds of hectares of mature native forest, is horrifying to sporting and recreation groups.

"It doesn't make sense from a conservation point of view and a recreation point of view," says Robert Mitchell of Federated Mountain Clubs.

State-owned Meridian Energy has six large power generating proposals underway costing more than $3 billion, half of them hydro electric schemes. Other power companies are either investigating or applying for consent to build them.

Currently New Zealand can generate a maximum of about 9000 megawatts of electricity at any one time from all sources. Power companies have plans to increase that by almost 50% .

"The demand for power is growing at 2% every year. That's a city the size of Dunedin needing extra generation every year. That's significant and we have to find the best way to do to provide that power to New Zealanders," says Clare Shaw from Meridian Energy.

Half the country's power supply is already generated by hydro but the Ministry of Economic Development has identified another 28 rivers which they say could be dammed for further hydro development .

The big three state-owned power companies Meridian, Mighty River and Genesis and the publicly listed company Contact also have plans for new wind and geothermal stations.

However the concern is that rivers once thought to be safe from hydro development are being considered.

"I think the days when damning a river was an acceptable thing to do are long gone," says Brian Anderson, West Coast Forest and Bird.