With our regular host Bryan Gibson away on a break, senior Farmers Weekly contributing journalist Richard Rennie talks to Mike Petersen, chair of the Tukituki Water Security Project in Hawke's Bay, talks about why he sees the project as being crucial for the region's future economic growth, and the potential it holds for unlocking more water not only for irrigation, but for urban expansion in a region already tightly constrained by water availability. With dam projects often taking years to get started, Tukituki backers are confident that with the earlier work done under the Ruataniwha dam project, and sharing the same footprint, Tukituki will be starting sooner than later.