The Otago Regional Council has accepted commissioners’ recommendations that a minimum flow of 900 litres per second of surface water be set for the Lindis River catchment, in Central Otago.
This would apply from the start of October until the end of May each year.
The recommendations were made after extensive consultation, in which the public had played an active part by making and speaking to submissions, ORC officials said.
The decision is part of a wider plan change (5A) which considers surface water, groundwater, catchment boundaries and water allocation volumes in the area.
The decision noted the recommended amendment was the most appropriate for achieving the Resource Management Act’s purpose of promoting the sustainable management of natural and physical resources.
And the amendment also met the objectives of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management, and the Otago Water Plan, and it is proposed the new minimum flow forms part of the plan.
The Lindis River was historically overallocated and the national statement requires that this overallocation be addressed.
The committee accepted a minimum flow of 900 litres/sec would:
● enhance the river’s role as an important spawning and rearing tributary of the nationally important Lake Dunstan and Upper Clutha fisheries,
● encourage a co-operative approach to water use,
● allow people to value and enjoy a healthy and continually flowing river that is connected to the Clutha River/Matau-Au,
● preserve and protect the cultural relationship Ngai Tahu has with the river catchment.
The decision acknowledged there would be economic and social costs for irrigators through the reduced availability of water and increased competition between water users during summer low-flow periods.
But economic costs could be offset by using more reliable alternative water sources, establishing water storage, and switching to more efficient irrigation and water supply infrastructure.
Council also accepted the recommendation to increase to the primary allocation limit proposed in the plan change from 1000 litres/sec to 1200 litres/sec.
They said this would maintain the local community’s social and economic wellbeing by:
● providing sufficient water for irrigators who currently take water from the Lindis River and don’t have access to an alternative source to irrigate their land efficiently.
● provide existing water permit holders with greater certainty of supply when renewing their water consent or deemed permit.
The decision also removes the proposed restriction in the water plan on taking water for irrigation from the Lower Tarras and Bendigo aquifers.
This was because there was no evidence that this extraction for winter irrigation compromised existing hydro-generation activities on the Clutha River, officials said.
A minimum flow limits when water can be taken from a river during low-flow conditions. It ensures sufficient water is left in a river for the maintenance of aquatic ecosystems and natural character of the river.
Primary allocation limits govern the amount of water that can be taken in a catchment if the river flows above the lowest set minimum.
● The hearing committee comprised Cr Gretchen Robertson (chairwoman), and commissioners Clive Geddes and Richard Allibone.
