Speaking aim to help ‘build bridge’

Pomahaka Water Care Group project manager Lloyd McCall relaxes in central Dunedin before speaking...
Pomahaka Water Care Group project manager Lloyd McCall relaxes in central Dunedin before speaking at business advisory firm Polson Higgs about the group’s work to improve the water quality in the catchment around the Pomahaka River.
West Otago dairy farmer Lloyd McCall will seize any opportunity to talk about the Pomahaka Water Care Group.

Mr McCall — who owns a 300ha dairy farm near Tapanui and runs 630 cows in partnership with his son and daughter-in-law — is the catchment group’s project manager.

He spoke at business advisory firm Polson Higgs last week about how the group’s work was improving the water quality in the more than 2000sq km catchment around the Pomahaka River.

He accepted the invitation to speak because it helped "build a bridge between town and country" by telling stories of farmers’ environmental work.

He had accepted every invitation to talk about the group, including travelling to the North Island four times to speak.

A topic he talks about was the group being given $3.7million of government funding — $2.3million from the Provincial Growth Fund and $1.4million from the One Billion Trees Fund, under the Jobs for Nature programme.

The money was given to install 100km of riparian fencing on farms and put 230,000 plants in the ground near waterways.

The work — which began in November last year — provided jobs, increased biodiversity, protected waterway and would improve water quality, he said.

So far, about 23,000 plants had been put in the ground

and about 18km of fencing

had been installed.

The plan was to get all the plants and fencing installed in the next three years.

The plants were supplied by Blue Mountain Nurseries in Tapanui, which had employed six new staff so far to help deliver the work.

Stuart Timber Ltd in Tapanui had employed two more staff at the sawmill to create fencing supplies for the project.

The work to plant and maintain the vegetation had been contracted to Otago company Habitat Restorations Aotearoa, which had employed five new staff for the project.

Testing at four prototype sediment traps and constructed wetlands on farms in the catchment had shown a reduction of about 60% on average for E.coli and a 30%-40% fall in nitrate levels.

"You can improve water quality coming off your land — it is possible."

The improvements would come at a cost to farmers but their grandchildren would benefit, he said.

The group was launched in response to authorities declaring the Pomahaka River to be "Otago’s most degraded" rural waterway in 2012.

In response, six farmers met in a pub in 2014 and "drew up a plan".

The group was incorporated in 2016.

"It’s all about farmers taking ownership of the problem and doing it for themselves."

 

Add a Comment

 

Southern Field Days 2024 - Featured Businesses