New strategy 'a leap of faith' for region

A new strategy for Canterbury's water management is a "leap of faith", Opuha Water Partnership chief executive Peter Scott says.

Farming and environmental interests, which are often poles apart on regional water issues, have helped develop the Canterbury Mayoral Forum's draft water-management strategy.

Scott, a South Canterbury farmer and member of the forum's steering group, said the strategy would help a discussion that must take place about water development in Canterbury.

The progression of the Central Plains Water scheme and Hurunui Water Project before the strategy had been completed was unfortunate, Scott said.

He was unsure how the overlap would be managed.

"I think we've got a really good platform now to launch forward and have an inclusive decision-making process."

Scott believed water use was a minor issue compared with water-quality concerns.

"I don't think the long-term argument is ever going to be about the amount of water; it's going to be about the quality of water and the effects you have when you intensify agriculture.

"That's the issue we need to sit down and talk about."

Farmers would not back a moratorium on new water consents, Scott said.

Reliable water access gave them the "certainty to invest".

"We're similar to anybody who's investing, it just so happens one of our major commodities is water and we have to take that into consideration when we do our numbers."

Steering group member Murray Rodgers, of the Water Rights Trust, repeated his call for a Government-imposed moratorium for "breathing space".

"That's what I personally expect."

He said rules would still have to be enforced, and it would not all be "holding hands".

There was consensus the current regime could not continue, he said.

Rivers and streams were becoming increasingly polluted and some were running dry.

Large storage schemes were still being developed but a project in Lees Valley could be used to irrigate northern and central Canterbury, he said.

"It's really taking a whole-of-region, integrated approach and stepping away from the piecemeal, project by project, `let's put a dam here and there', type of thinking in the past," he said.

"This, I personally believe, has the answer for the region."

Rodgers supported water charges but said the math was yet to be done.

Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce chief executive Peter Townsend, a steering committee member for four years, said the strategy was an exciting prospect for the region.

"We are sitting on enormous potential here," he said.

"It would be a crime if we don't optimise this resource in a way that would enrich our community and protect resources."

- © Fairfax NZ News