Recreational & Social Benefits
- A range of recreational benefits will be incorporated into the ultimate design and operation of the CPW scheme. Final decisions on what will be built will be developed in consultation with local communities and user groups. Some options include:
- A major off-road mixed walking / cycling track (around much of the storage lake, headrace canal and some water races, depending on farmer access permissions).
- An artificial white-water kayaking course (would be the closest such course to Christchurch).
- Flat water kayaking and rowing on the headrace canal and storage lake. The headrace canal also allows for the option of long distance flat water kayak races.
- If fish farming in the headrace canal is feasible, this could result in angling options (as is the case at Tekapo and Pukaki canals).
- A rowing course on the storage lake as well as yachting, windsurfing and kayaking activities.
- Experience in other parts of New Zealand indicates that land use change following the introduction of irrigation schemes commonly leads to changes in farm ownership and farm type (eg. higher value produce). An increased population can have benefits for schools, sports clubs and social services.
Irrigation and associated land uses demand a wider skill base among farmers, farm workers, farming service providers and contractors, rural service providers and small business people.
- The scheme will safeguard the level of water in ‘house wells’ on which many rural households are reliant for their drinking water. This is because the majority of farmers involved in the CPW scheme will no longer pump water from underground aquifers, allowing downstream groundwater systems to return to higher, more natural levels.
Recent media coverage shows drinking water supplies in rural areas are now seriously affected by irrigation abstraction: “…about two dozen shallow wells in central Canterbury have run dry, leaving people without water to drink or for showers” (The Press, 01/02/06), “I’ve never seen so many people ringing up saying their well has gone dry …” (ECan groundwater scientist Russel Sanders reported in The Press 31/01/06)