Waihemo farmer Jim Thomson’s property is spilt by the Waihemo/Shag River.
Mr Thomson is the Waihemo ward representative on the Waitaki District Council and an approved RMA hearings commissioner. He said he was speaking as a concerned ORC ratepayer.
At the ORC meeting in Oamaru yesterday, he told the council he has seen the river deteriorate "badly" over the past five years.
"There's been no maintenance, no spraying for weeds and in actual fact, now seeing the results of previous spraying which was excessive, large willow trees are now dead and falling over and will, I suggest, end up in the river during the next large flood.
"The lack of that maintenance, as I say, is going to affect future flood events. I know historically the floods in the Waihemo peaked at 440 cubics and during my 12 years there it was at 298 and that was scary enough."
Mr Thomson suggested the issue could be traced back to the "travesty" of the Otago Regional Plan Change 7, which implemented the same irrigation rules for all Otago, with no recognition of the different weather between central and eastern Otago.
"However, 75 years of rainfall records in my district show an 800mm variation, in that rainfall. As low as during the 1998 drought of 286mm but as high as 1100mm in the last two years.
"I haven't turned the irrigation pump on because Mother Nature has done it for us but in actual fact, that will show as a non-use and will result in the reduction of water allocated to me."
He suggested a solution to prevent trees being an issue in floods was to, at the Maheno area, remove the debris and the alluvial deposits between the rail and road bridges in the Kakanui and allow the water to flow where it wants to.
Failing to do so would mean ratepayers would face more flood events in the future, he said.
"I would challenge some members around this table as to whether they have served the whole community or been caught up in spheres of specific local interest.
"Local and regional government would have more effect if we engaged with the practical people in our communities. Let's be proactive rather than reactive.
"I would like to urge the council to continue to engage with practical people dealing daily with issues in our community for far better outcomes in the long term. Let's engage, educate and empower our communities to achieve outcomes, rather to try and impose and enforce upon them."
Moeraki representative Cr Kevin Malcolm asked what would prevent the issue from being an imminent threat.
"Well, the first thing is the clogging of the river with lupins, gorse brush," Mr Thomson said.
"When I arrived, I sprayed up from the river banks. I also farm in a way that the areas that are flood plain will have temporary feeds in and I normally set back 10 to 15 metres to make sure that stock don't have access to the river.
"But over time, with the neglect last year, I actually sent Cr Malcolm a photo of where I shifted the fence up and put two year old cattle in to try and break down that debris and you couldn't actually see the cattle in amongst it."
