Community response to drought commended

Stephen Woodhead
Stephen Woodhead
Otago Regional Council chairman Stephen Woodhead is ''extremely impressed and grateful'' for the Otago community's response to a drought early this year.

In a joint statement with council chief executive Peter Bodeker, Mr Woodhead said water availability was ''critical'' to everyone, especially to those who relied on it for farming and other business and recreational activities.

The council had made it a priority to work towards ensuring water was managed efficiently so people and communities had access to ''suitable supplies of water'', Mr Woodhead said in the statement that accompanied the council's 2014-15 annual report.

The council also sought to ensure the natural character and cultural values of aquatic ecosystems were protected.

Achieving this balance was ''not easy'' and was ''certainly not helped'' by the Otago drought between January and March this year.

The council had spent much time monitoring water levels, meeting landowners and others with an interest in water, and keeping the community informed.

The council was ''extremely impressed and grateful'' for the community's response to the drought and for the ''responsible decisions'' and actions taken by landholders in how they managed water allocation ''during this difficult time''.

The co operation of landholders had contributed to an ''outstanding'' management of the drought.

Existing water related mining privileges would expire in 2021 and holders of these privileges needed to replace these with resource consents if they wished to continue taking water after that date.

Work had continued this year on establishing minimum flows and setting allocation limits on several Otago rivers.

The council had also been meeting water users, giving advice to develop awareness of water use, and providing options for forming groups with a view to group consents replacing individual mining privileges for taking water.

Considerable work had also been done to raise awareness of rural water quality provisions in the council's water plan, and to provide information on options for meeting water quality thresholds by 2020.

During the financial year ended June 30, the council had also produced a ''fact pack'' providing information on the rules and discussing effluent ponding, stock access to waterways and other topics.

About 1900 packs were provided to properties throughout Otago, and drop in sessions were also held, where farmers could discuss water quality with council staff.

A recent survey showed 78% of Otago landholders knew about the plan's water quality provisions.

''Our aim, however, is 100,'' he said.

-john.gibb@odt.co.nz

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