To view these files requires the free Adobe Reader
Central Plains Water Chairman Pat Morrison says, “Many of Canterbury’s groundwater woes are readily solved by irrigation schemes that include water storage such as that proposed by Central Plains Water.”
Mr Morrison’s comments follow Environment Canterbury’s recent decision to review the sustainability of ground water extraction in Central Canterbury. Their decision reinforces the need for an irrigation scheme that includes water storage to capture surplus water, Mr Morrison says.
“There is a huge amount of water flowing through the Canterbury Plains. The majority of water comes from glaciers and melting snow and flows straight out to sea. The proposed Central Plains Water irrigation scheme involves channelling river water into an irrigation network and storing surplus flows in a reservoir for future use,” says Pat Morrison.
“It is the storage reservoir that makes Central Plains Water unique. It acts like a water bank that farmers can draw upon to irrigate drought-prone farmland in the middle of summer when river flows may be restricted.
“Up to 80% of farmers in the 60,000 hectare scheme area are Central Plains Water shareholders, meaning they are entitled to receive water, and of those, an estimated 50% currently pump water from underground aquifers.
“If the scheme goes ahead many of these farmers will close down their wells, which will improve the viability of many of the remaining wells, taking significant pressure off the aquifers,” says Pat Morrison.
“This will allow the aquifers to naturally replenish, some rising by up to 20m in parts of central Canterbury. Our research indicates that the scheme will also result in increased flows in lowland streams like the Selwyn and the Irwell, which will return to more natural levels.”
Central Plains Water is confident that the scheme will not significantly affect the ecology of the Waimakariri and the Rakaia rivers for the reason that no irrigator, Central Plains Water or otherwise, is permitted to draw water when river flows drop to minimum levels established by the Waimakariri Regional River Plan (developed by Environment Canterbury in 2004) and the Rakaia River National Water Conservation Order.
Waimak Intake Area map (226KB)
To view these files requires the free Adobe Reader