'Happy' with river sessions turnout

The Otago Regional Council is "very happy" with the turnout to its minimum-flow information sessions.

Last week, the council held drop-in meetings in Central Otago to determine what residents valued most about the Manuherikia River.

Fraser McRae.
Fraser McRae.

It was the first stage in a multi-year process in which it will set minimum flow levels on the river to protect its ecosys-tems and natural character.

This would mean a change to the district plan.

The Omakau and Alexandra sessions attracted about 90 people each and about 20 residents attended the Oturehua meeting.

Council policy planning and resource management director Fraser McRae said he was "very happy" with those numbers.

A major concern of farmers was whether they would have enough water for irrigation, he said.

"There are some people who are nervous about change, but there were some good discussions."

It was important to start the process as all permits to take water out of the river ended in 2021, he said.

The next step was to compile the responses and have more meetings with those communities to "verify that we had heard them correctly".

No date  for this had been set yet, he said.

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