Canty 'lagging behind' in water allocation

Water is Canterbury's largest resource but allocating it is the region's biggest problem, says Agricultural Minister David Carter.

Carter said antagonism between parties had hindered Canterbury and it lagged behind areas such as Tasman, where communities already had water-storage schemes.

The Government's land and water forum and stage two of its Resource Management Act amendments would help sort out the allocation mess, he said.

Carter was in Tasman this week for a briefing on the proposed $30 million Lee Valley dam, in the Richmond foothills south of Nelson.

Six years of community and district council planning has gone into the dam, which will release water down the Wairoa and Waimea rivers in times of drought for use by irrigators, businesses and the community.

Waimea Water Augmentation Committee chairman Murray King said three challenges faced the committee land acquisition for the dam, the best governance model for the finished project, and who paid the cost.

The briefing heard that 20 hectares of the dam's proposed 100ha footprint is in leased forestry that is subject to Treaty of Waitangi settlement.

The issue of governance and whether the dam will include a 1.5-megawatt hydro-electric project have yet to be decided.

Tasman District Council water scientist Joseph Thomas said building the dam, which still needed resource consent, would not start until 2012.

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