Bendigo Station Ltd is planning to take water from the Clutha River to irrigate almost 200ha of pasture at Long Gully Station, off State Highway 8A, northwest of Tarras.
The company applied to the Central Otago District Council for consent to construct an irrigation intake structure on the surface and margins of the river, which, if consented, would allow the scheme to go ahead.
Speaking on behalf of the applicant at a meeting of the CODC hearings panel in Alexandra yesterday, survey consultant Peter Dymock said the granting of other consents for the project by the Otago Regional Council was "imminent".
Bendigo Station Ltd obtained ORC consent to extract water from the Clutha, and recently applied to the regional council to shift the point of take, discharge silt into the river during construction of the intake structure, and place a structure on, as well as disturb, the river bed.
Mr Dymock said the application to the district council for construction of an intake structure and associated earthworks, vegetation clearance, and access track construction was necessary for the applicant to exercise its Clutha River permit.
The proposed 198ha irrigation scheme comprised three centre pivot irrigators and an extensive k-line system.
One pivot was already operating through a temporary take of water from the Lindis Irrigation scheme, Mr Dymock said.
Submissions on the district council application were made by Land Information New Zealand - which neither supported nor opposed it - and opponent Teresa Stratton Vets, who deemed the area a "pristine wilderness" and asked for consent to be stalled pending further consultation.
CODC planning consultant David Whitney recommended consent be granted subject to 11 conditions.
The panel reserved its decision, which should be released within 15 working days.
