A breach of minimum flow restrictions on the Kakanui River
continues to be investigated, Otago Regional Council,
director resource management Selva Selvarajah says.
The council launched an investigation in early January to
look at farmers who took water out of the river after it had
reached its minimum flow.
The rivers were covered by consents under the Resource
Management Act, and farmers had to stop taking water if they
ran below 0.25cumecs, and could not start taking water until
flows reached 0.4cumecs.
Dr Selvarajah said at a compliance committee meeting last
week a lack of communication between the council's systems
and farmers had been identified.
Chief executive Graeme Martin said the data the council
needed had not been provided as farmers had not passed it on
to their allocation committee.
Cr Doug Brown said he hoped a lesson would be learnt from the
situation that all involved needed to play their part.
rebecca.fox@odt.co.nz
Bookmark/Search this post with:
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.