The Waitaki District Council yesterday issued an abatement notice to the Kurow-Duntroon Irrigation Co, ordering it to stop work on a controversial section of its network.
The company is replacing about 44km of ageing open canal with 37km of piped irrigation infrastructure, but as it traverses a scenic section of the valley alongside State Highway 83, it appears to compromise the visual amenity of the area between Kurow and the scheme's new source, Lake Waitaki.
Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher yesterday called the situation "disappointing".
"I think the over-arching thing is the status of the [rural scenic] zone, and basically the consent is that they don't interfere with the vista - and it has," Mr Kircher said.
"It's the one place along the road where you can actually see the river."
When the Government began winding down public subsidies for large-scale irrigation projects last year, the Kurow-Duntroon Irrigation Co did not lose its funding because Crown Irrigation Investments Ltd had signed a construction funding term sheet with the scheme and a Waitaki District Council loan of up to $3 million in September was intended to meet 50% of the company's funding shortfall, which came about as a result of the design and construction agreement the company reached with its chosen contractor.
At the time, councillors lauded the environmental gains of the modernisation.
"You look along all the rest of the work and it's actually tidied things up nicely," Mr Kircher said.
"I think it's actually had some real benefits with [the aesthetics] as well as the environmental benefits, why they had to do the whole thing in the first place."
Council planning manager Hamish Barrell said Mr Kircher had brought public concerns about the irrigation pipeline to his department, which was now investigating the matter.
The company had been issued a non-notified land-use resource consent, which required the construction to be "in general accordance" with the proposal lodged for the work.
A section of the proposal for the work Mr Barrell provided states the pipe would be set back from the road by 10m "and below the road as the road extends around the rocky bluff".
"The abatement notice directs that work on those above-ground sections of the pipeline adjoining the river must cease," Mr Barrell said. "Further directions may be forthcoming."
Earlier this week, Kurow Duntroon Irrigation Co chairman Geoff Keeling told the Otago Daily Times despite some public concern over the visual impact of the work, the construction of the irrigation pipeline was meeting its consent conditions.
Yesterday, he declined to comment in detail, but he provided a brief statement recognising the council had raised concerns.
"We are working with the council to fully understand their concerns," he said.
"It is the company's intention to proactively address those concerns in a timely manner."
Yesterday, Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean called for "calm" from those criticising the pipeline.
"People are calling the 100 or so metres which can be seen from the road, an eyesore or a blight on the landscape. I see it as an efficient use of water, the creation of jobs and increased productivity."
