Contact Energy says there is no demand at present for any expansion of irrigation from the Kawarau Arm of Lake Dunstan.
That is the conclusion of a report tabled at the Clutha Management Committee meeting in Cromwell yesterday. Contact Energy commissioned the report as one of the conditions to getting consent to continue operating the Clyde dam.
Under the conditions of its water permit to continue damming the Clutha River upstream of Clyde for power generation, Contact had to investigate how the needs of future irrigation users in the Kawarau Arm could be met, identify sites for intakes and design those intakes.
Central Otago District Council business development manager Jonathan Gadd told the committee the report met the objectives set out in the consent conditions.
"However, it seems unlikely at this time that it will have any effect in terms of construction of new takes or abstraction of water . . ." Mr Gadd said.
The Kawarau arm of the lake was formerly the Kawarau River, a tributary of the Clutha river and it had two distinct reaches - the reach from the Kawarau Gorge to the Bannockburn bridge and the reach from the Bannockburn bridge to Cornish Point, the report, prepared by Opus staff in Alexandra, said.
Siltation in the lake, particularly in the Kawarau Arm, had been an issue for water users.
Irrigation was essential for the production of wine grapes and vines had successfully been planted on land previously identified as marginal for pasture or orchards, the report said. This expansion in viticulture had occurred in and around Bannockburn and Cromwell, in particular.
Established growers and wine-makers believed there was no opportunity to expand grape-growing in Central Otago at present. There was an oversupply of grapes and growers were being encouraged to manage yields better to ensure quality rather than quantity of fruit.
The area of land planted in pip and stone fruit and the area of irrigated pasture was not expected to increase significantly, the report said.
Central Otago had not experienced dairy conversion at the same rate as other areas and climate extremes were likely to be factors, as was the distance from markets.
Potentially high-earning crops, such as olives and nuts, might increase, but that would be influenced by market trends.
"No other potential crops have been identified that are likely to provide sufficient income to support further irrigation development within the study area," the report said.
