A farmer has been granted two resource consents to use groundwater in the Maerewhenua catchment for irrigation - the fifth decision on 52 resource consents in the lower Waitaki catchment being considered by Environment Canterbury (ECan).
The applications, mostly for irrigation using water from the Hakataramea and other catchments below the Waitaki dam, are part of the Waitaki catchment water allocation regional plan prepared in 2005 and now being processed by ECan.
They were considered at a hearing before three commissioners - former Environment Court judge Prof Peter Skelton (Christchurch), environmental consultant Mike Bowden (Kaiapoi) and freshwater scientist and ecologist Greg Ryder (Dunedin) - in Oamaru in August and September, 2008.
Since then, the commissioners have released five decisions, the most recent being for M. S. Gillingham to take groundwater from a 7m-deep bore in the Maerewhenua catchment at up to 175,000cu m a year for irrigation of a 29ha block.
The block supplements his Dansey Pass hill country farm, producing winter feed and carrying up to 400 hoggets and 40 cattle over the winter.
With irrigation, production could increase by up to 40%.
However, existing irrigators in the Maerewhenua catchment were worried about the effect on the Maerewhenua River, which would impact on their resource consents.
The Central South Island Fish and Game Council was also concerned about the potential effect on the river, used by trout for spawning.
In their decision, the commissioners said there was water available for Mr Gillingham's proposal and granted two resource consents for 35 years.
The proposal was to harvest water during high flows in the river and store it for irrigation.
That would neither adversely affect existing users nor Maerewhenua River values.
"The potential adverse effects are, in our judgement, no more than minor . . . ," the commissioners said.
david.bruce@odt.co.nz