ORC

The Otago Regional Council has decided on a "pathway" towards solving its accommodation problems which includes providing for a temporary council chamber in its Stafford St car park.

The Otago Regional Council will meet in private on Wednesday to discuss a confidential report on plans and likely costs to overcome overcrowding in its Stafford St office block.

Otago regional councillors deny suggestions their proposed enforcement process for those who continue to burn coal is too lax.

Floodbank and works on the lower Waitaki River and at Henley could soon be protected by an Otago Regional Council bylaw.

Otago Regional Council ratepayers may soon be able to pay their rates bill by instalments.

A change in the order of flood protection works to be completed along the Water of Leith during the next seven years could affect rates.

The Dunedin City Council will consider costly improvements to Dunedin's water infrastructure to address fears chemicals leaching from former industrial sites are contributing to the contamination of Otago Harbour.

The Otago Regional Council is warning thousands of farmers with consent to take irrigation water from rivers to conserve as much water as possible to reduce the pressure on rapidly dwindling rivers.

Changes afoot in regulations governing water use in Otago will influence the region's prosperity for years to come, the Otago Regional Council says. Rebecca Fox looks at the council's sometimes controversial approach to water quality and quantity.

A move by Fonterra to improve water quality in lakes, rivers and streams has been welcomed by the Otago Regional Council and Environment Canterbury.