The community will have a bigger say in managing water in the Upper Waitaki catchment with the appointment of a new 13-member committee.
The Upper Waitaki zone committee has been set up under the Canterbury water management strategy to jointly represent the community, Environment Canterbury (ECan), Waitaki and Mackenzie District Councils.
It is the sixth of 10 committees to be established.
The Lower Waitaki-South Coastal Canterbury water management zone committee already operates in the lower Waitaki and Waimate districts.
On Friday, seven community members were appointed to the Upper Waitaki zone committee following a selection process.
They are resource management consultant and ecologist Bill Chisholm (Lake Ohau village and Dunedin), Benmore Irrigation Company manager and farmer Barry Shepherd (Omarama), landscape architect and environmentalist Anne Steven (Wanaka), Lake Ohau Lodge and Ohau Snow Fields owner Mike Neilson (Lake Ohau), merino sheep and beef farmer Simon Cameron (Mackenzie), Waitaha trust board member Shane Te Maiharoa (Waimate) and Meridian community fund chairman and asset maintenance manager Mathew Bayliss (Omarama).
The zone committee also includes Waitaki District Councillor Craig Dawson, Mackenzie Mayor Claire Barlow, ECan Commissioner Peter Skelton and runanga appointments Wayne Tipa, John Wilkie and Mandy Home.
Cr Dawson said care was taken to choose people with the skills, interests and expertise to ensure the collective strength of the committee.
''While each member brings different strengths to the committee, they all share a common passion for the district and a desire to ensure its water resources are properly managed in the interests of the community at large,'' he said.
Mrs Barlow also acknowledged the individual qualifications, accomplishments, interests and occupations.
''As a group, they have the breadth and depth of expertise to work collaboratively to develop creative solutions to water management issues in the district, while addressing the priorities set out in the Canterbury water management strategy,'' she said.
Applicants were assessed on skills, expertise, and experience as well as their ability to work together to develop water management solutions that delivered economic, social, cultural and environmental outcomes.
Commissioner Skelton said the committee would develop an Upper Waitaki zone water management implementation programme taking into account other zone committee programmes and the regional committee's programme.
''We are confident we have a pool of capable people with wide-ranging interests and experience who, together with other committee members, will begin to develop the broad water management programme for the area with skill and urgency,'' Commissioner Skelton said.
The Upper Waitaki zone committee will meet for the first time in February for an orientation workshop.
