Lay summary
The ongoing poor health of our hapu is evidenced by the average age of adults in our urupa (35) and by a health survey 17 years ago. For twenty years the hapu has experienced water shortages which reached a crisis point three years ago with homes without water for up to 9 months. This research looks to find the historic and contemporary relationship between the loss of rangatiratanga over our rivers, hinerepo and aquifer and the health of our hapu. It looks at what the indicators of the health of our hapu should be, what the health of our hapu is in 2013 and how we might develop a plan to achieve hapu wellbeing. We will use a qualitative research method including interviews, focus groups, purakau interviews, health assessments, a search of the historic record and a case study of the health impacts of the 2009 water shortages.