The Central Otago District Council meets today to consider drafting and promoting a Local Bill to expand and rebuild Falls Dam.
Such a Bill would require district councillors to resolve the river’s long-standing minimum flow issue despite it traditionally being the purview of the Otago Regional Council.
The river runs through a major farming area in Central Otago, supporting more than 600 water users, irrigation programmes and rural communities.
Setting a minimum flow for the river that satisfies both agricultural, environmental and mana whenua interests has so far proved futile for the regional council.
Otago regional councillor Gary Kelliher, of Springvale, said the process to date, of setting a minimum flow for the river had been prolonged.
A sheep and deer farmer, Cr Kelliher said he supported the Local Bill option.
Getting the minimum flow right was critical.
‘‘For too long it’s been water users and irrigation versus everyone else.’’
Environmental groups had continuously pushed for a minimum flow — the lowest the river was allowed to go before water users must stop taking from it — that could not be met.
Cr Alan Somerville, of Dunedin, responded to Cr Kelliher’s suggestions and said he did not accept environmental groups had pushed unrealistic figures.
Those who ultimately set the river’s minimum flow could not afford to ignore years of research and findings on the Manuherikia catchment.
Those scientific findings needed to be the basis of any decisions made.
‘‘If we’re serious about looking after our waterways, we need to look at the science too.
‘‘We’re not going to have a thriving agricultural sector if we’re operating in a desecrated environment.’’
Cr Somerville further questioned whether going through local legislation ‘‘every time’’ was a sustainable long-term option for mediating and resolving local government issues.
Cr Michael Laws, of Cromwell, was blunt about the more than decade-long debate.
‘‘A waste of time, energy and money.’’
The matter now requiring an act of Parliament to find a way through said plenty about how it had been handled.
‘‘It’s ended up being a battleground where a whole series of social and ideological interests have played out.
‘‘A minimum flow promoted with no scientific basis would eviscerate agricultural interests and severely damage the economy.’’
