Locals Invited to Have a Say On Local Water Management

Two meetings are being held in mid-May for South Coastal Canterbury residents to hear how water management limits will be set in the zone, and how they can be involved.

The meetings will specifically focus on water quality and quantity limits within the South Canterbury Coastal Streams area - between the Otaio River in the north, and Morven Drain in the south. The western boundary is the Waihao River catchment in the Hunters Hills, and the eastern boundary is the Pacific Ocean.

The meetings reflect the Lower Waitaki – South Coastal Canterbury Zone Committee’s recent focus on developing recommendations on limits for the Waitaki sub-regional section of Environment Canterbury’s proposed Land & Water Regional Plan (pLWRP).

The proposed LWRP provides the framework to facilitate delivery of the community’s aspirations for water management – as set out in the Canterbury Water Management Strategy (CWMS).

Lower Waitaki – South Coastal Canterbury Zone Committee Chair Robin Murphy said local input is important to ensuring decisions are made in the bests interests of the zone.

“The underlying philosophy of the CWMS is that local communities are best placed to make decisions on local water management.

“We are keen to engage with community members to ensure a wide range of views are represented in the recommendations we make.

“Specifically, we need to hear people’s views on water quality and quantity limits in the area to guide the development a sub-regional plan for our zone, which will feed in to the proposed LWRP.

“The LWRP will start with default limits for water use, water allocation, and nutrients, and then put the limits in a catchment context. Our focus is currently on building our understanding of the impacts of limits so we can make informed recommendations.

“As it was with developing our ZIP, community input is vital to developing effective solutions to address the issues facing our water resource so we hope to see plenty of people at the meetings,” he said.

The Lower Waitaki – South Coastal Canterbury Zone Committee finalised its Zone Implementation Programme (ZIP) for water management in early 2012 to give effect to the principles and targets outline in the CWMS.

The CWMS aims to enable present and future generations to gain the greatest social, economic, recreational and cultural benefits from our water resources within an environmentally sustainable framework.

The zone committee will meet for its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday 15 May at 2:30pm, following the limit setting community meeting. The committee will focus on discussing community feedback from the meetings. The meeting is open to the public and an agenda will be made available at www.ecan.govt.nz/canterburywater prior to the meeting.

The committee will also receive an update from Environment Canterbury on its progress in implementing the on-the-ground land use and water quality aspects of the Lower Waitaki Zone Implementation Programme (ZIP) for water management.

The Lower Waitaki-South Coastal Canterbury Zone Committee operates as a joint committee of Environment Canterbury and the Waimate and Waitaki District Councils. The zone extends from the Otaio catchment in the north, to the Waitaki Dam in the south, taking in Waimate, Kurow and Duntroon.

ENDS

© Scoop Media