MEDIA RELEASE

19 May 2011

Waitohi River Storage Preferred Option To Provide Water Resource Security

A major storage reservoir on the Waitohi River could be a key component in providing enough water for Hurunui residents for drinking, irrigation and recreation in the future.

The Hurunui-Waiau Zone Committee has identified the reservoir and potential transfer of water between the Waiau and Hurunui rivers as its preferred option for water management in its Draft Zone Implementation Programme now out for public consultation.

Committee Chairman David Eder says being able to store and distribute suficient water is going to be critical to meeting the community’s needs into the future.

“While it is important we seek more efficient use of existing water, that in itself, will not satisfy the demand. We simply have to have more water if we are to deliver on the economic, social cultural, environmental and recreational targets determined under the Canterbury Water Management Strategy.”

It is estimated an integrated water scheme on the Waitohi would cost in the order of half a billion dollars. It would involve pumping water from the Hurunui River into a 120m3 reservoir about 1.5km above the Waitohi Gorge Bridge providing water for drinking and irrigation across some 37,000 hectares. It would also provide for a run of river hydro-generation scheme.

While David Eder says the Committee acknowledges there is still work to be done to determine if it will be commercially viable but sees significant merit in the proposal.

“Not only does it dot all the ‘i’s and cross all the ‘t’s in terms of meeting the community’s needs, there are also significantly less concerns about the impact of a Waitohi river storage dam and reservoir on environmental, conservation and recreation values than on other potential options.”

Hurunui Mayor, Winton Dalley, says the destruction and displacement of a number of family farming businesses in his community with this option has been given little consideration and would have to be addressed.

The storage scheme promises to improve drinking water and ensure the ability to take it even when a river is below minimum flow – one of the Zone Committee’s priorities in an area that currently operates 13 community water schemes benefitting between 50 and 1500 people per scheme.

Like others with a relatively small but widely dispersed population, Mayor Dalley, says his council struggles to fund the improvements required to get community water schemes to the standard required to meet the New Zealand Drinking Water Standards.

“The integrated Waitohi management scheme would provide increased water security to the district for current and future community drinking-water supplies, as well as the numerous associated stockwater schemes, with an added benefit of potential water quality improvement.

“It would provide a unique opportunity to make fresh drinking water available to the rural communities of the Zone at a higher quality than currently available and at a cost to the community that will never be as low again.”

The provision of more water would also address the need for increased flows in the Waipara River, and protect significant native ecosystems, including wetlands, as well as supporting electricity generation and irrigation, which is a significant driver of economic security in the disrict.

David Eder says the challenge for the Waitohi storage options is because all proposals are at the concept stage and very limited investigations and analyses have yet been done it may yet turn out the Waitohi storage, while attractive, may not be affordable.

The Hurunui-Waiau Zone Committee has met with many groups and organisations over the past few months discussing water issues and exploring possible management options.

Members of the general public are now invited to hear more about its findings and proposed solutions at a series of meetings on the draft Draft Hurunui-Waiau Zone Implementation Programme – the first prepared under the Canterbury Water Management Strategy.

ends

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