Irrigation plans 'boost for region'

Spending more than $5 billion on large-scale Canterbury irrigation will create 17,000 new jobs and boost the region's economy by 8 per cent a year, a report says.

The first economic assessment of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy says building water storage in Tekapo, Lake Coleridge, Lees Valley and Hurunui will cost $5.2b and irrigate an extra 236,000 hectares.

On-farm gross domestic product would be boosted by $400 million a year and $1.7b would be added to regional GDP annually, an 8 per cent increase.

An estimated 17,000 extra jobs would be created throughout the region, including 3000 farm jobs, the report said.

Environmentalists warn the report is "superficial" and does not account for environmental mitigation. But irrigation proponents were encouraged by the analysis and said benefits like recreational opportunities could not be quantified in dollar terms.

The report comes amid rising tensions about the future of the region's water.

Christchurch will today host a rally organised by umbrella group Canterbury: Our Water to protest against the threat of water management being taken out of local hands.

The group includes members of the Green Party, Forest and Bird and Artists For Save Our Water, and will assemble in Victoria Square at 12.15pm on what is World Water Day.

A handful of councillors from the beleaguered Environment Canterbury will take part, including Jane Demeter, Eugenie Sage and Carole Evans.

Deputy chairwoman Jo Kane said she would also attend with a placard she made yesterday saying: "Regional councillors, endangered species".

Cabinet is expected today to discuss the future of ECan, following the damning Creech report which recommended sacking the elected councillors, appointing commissioners and establishing a regional water authority.

The Government is expected to decide within weeks if it will adopt the report's recommendations.

The Canterbury Water Management Strategy report's findings were described as "compelling" by Agriculture Minister David Carter.

He said despite the strategy being "intertwined" with ECan's future, the Government had high regard for the strategy, which was being driven by the Canterbury Mayoral Forum and was launched in 2002.

"There's been a long investment in time [in the strategy] and it would be a shame to throw that out."

Irrigation New Zealand chairman Graeme Sutton said he was encouraged by the report, although the benefits of irrigation would probably not flow through until the second generation of farmers.

He said a storage lake in the Lees Valley the size of Lake Tekapo could create "another Queenstown". "There are other benefits which are not tangible in dollars."

The Government should fund feasibility studies to flush out the best options for irrigating Canterbury, he said.

Mr Carter said financial support for Canterbury's water-related infrastructure projects had not been discussed by Cabinet and he watered down suggestions of long-term Government help.

"Financiers are telling us that once we get rid of the regulatory hurdles and there's more certainty in the process, these projects would stack up far better," he said.

The authors of the economic report – Harris Consulting, Aqualinc Research, Agribusiness Group and Butcher Partners – warned the irrigation benefits to Canterbury were overstated because environmental mitigation was excluded and the scenario's assumptions could be "readily changed".

- © Fairfax NZ News