Water Quality, Quantity and Ecosystems
CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT
3 JULY 2008
Water Quality, Quantity and Ecosystems
- Stage 4 of the Canterbury Strategic Water Study has commenced with the first stage of stakeholder and public consultation. The outcomes of the Strategic Water Study is a water management strategy for the whole region for at least the next 20 years that addresses water quality, water quantity and freshwater biodiversity. It will cover all major uses for water including agriculture, tourism, renewable energy, recreational uses, environmental interests and drinking water supply. The first stage of public consultation is about the uses and benefits of water. The second stage will focus on specific projects and activities. The project is overseen by the Canterbury Mayoral Forum.
- The Waihao River - Wainono Lagoon Management Strategy was ratified by the Waihao Wainono Water Users Society in June. The Strategy will soon be published. The next stage is to implement the Strategy.
- Prior to the 2008/09 bathing season, staff from the Waitaki District Council, ECan and Public Health South will be in contact with the Otematata Residents Association to discuss a combined approach to investigating the issues at Loch Laird over the summer period.
- Industry and local authority training on the revised Erosion and Sediment Control Guidelines for managing earthworks were held in Timaru and Christchurch in May.
- Meetings to present a NIWA report – Fish screens – good practice guidelines for Canterbury - were held in Timaru, Ashburton and Amberley in June. Attendees have provided useful advice on the direction of future work to test and enhance the guidelines.
- Hearings for the resource consents in the Waitaki catchment below the Waitaki dam are scheduled to start in August. The commissioners have issued a request for more information in relation to the North Bank Tunnel application. A councillor workshop on the Waitaki Water Allocation Regional Plan is scheduled for 17 July 2008.
- The Upper Waitaki Water Quality Trust did not reapply to the Sustainable Farming Fund for investigations in the upper catchment. The modelling work that Trust initially intended has now been picked up under the banner of Mackenzie Irrigation Company as part of resource consent applications.
- Hearings on submissions to the Proposed Natural Resources Regional Plan continued with an expected completion date of March 2009.
- Work to implement the proposed National Environmental Standard for Measurement of Water Takes continues through the Water Metering Manager.
- The Minister for the Environment has released a discussion document on a proposed National Environmental Standard on ecological flows and water levels. Submissions are due on 31 July 2008.
Pests & Biosecurity
- The Rabbit Coordinator has been involved in the Mackenzie Basin and Kurow pest districts:
o In the Mackenzie the Haldon Road group involved five landowners who had common rabbit infestation covering approximately 2000ha and after initial meetings were conducted a project plan was put together with the Coordinator’s assistance. Subsequently contractors have been appointed to carry out both aerial and ground control over the properties concerned. The Coordinator has been asked to give some operational advice to the landowners to further specify operational detail.
o ECan is working with seven land occupiers in the Maerewhenua catchment located in the Kurow pest district to implement a rabbit control programme this year to meet RPMS requirements. Enforcement may be required in at least one of these properties.
o A number of land occupier initiated rabbit
control programmes are being implemented elsewhere in the
Mackenzie basin.
Bovine Tb vector control operations
have been completed in the Southern area all within
designated timeframes:
o Possum populations continue to
decline as control pressures have their desired effect.
Ferrets on the other hand continue to be caught in large
numbers (over 5500) while not ideal these animals are
autopsied and consequently give a very through surveillance
picture of the existence or absence of Tb in the southern
region. The Tb incidence in the ferret population has been
declining since widespread vector control began in
2003.
o The area under control has expanded over the last
few years as Tb continues to decline in the main areas and
work can then proceed to the outer reaches of known Tb
infected areas and completing the gaps that have existed
between operational areas.
o New work in the 2008/09
year will be in the Otematata catchment, which has not
received work in the past. Also there will be some extension
to the Mackenzie basin operations where only 2 vector
related movement control herds now exist. The other mc herd,
which is in the coastal South Canterbury region, is a
purchase related issue.
In May 2007, DOC, Land
Information New Zealand, Federated Farmers entered into an
agreement to work to control wilding conifers in a
cooperative way, to seek opportunities for additional
resourcing to achieve the objectives, to set up joint
processes to support the development and implementation of a
wilding conifer strategy, and to gain wider community
support for the control of wilding conifers. A non-statutory
wilding conifer strategy for the Canterbury hill and high
country is now being prepared including objectives, control
priorities, cost estimates, and areas where the control of
wilding conifers will not occur under present budgets along
with responsibilities of each of the parties. The Strategy
will be completed during the 2008/09 financial year.
Operations to control wilding conifers have been undertaken
in the Dobson River in partnership with DOC and the land
occupier. This is part two or a three part operation with
the final part being completed in the 2008/09 financial
year.
Inspections on the 35 sites within the
southern area known to contain nassella tussock, to ensure
control programmes have been completed to prevent seeding,
are now completed.
A partnership between ECan, DOC,
Timaru District Council and the South Canterbury
Conservation Trust in an attempt to reverse the declining
population of long tailed bats estimated to number 150 -200
individuals. The Hanging Rock/ Kakahu area is the last known
home of this bat species in the eastern South Island. ECan
is undertaking a predator control on approximately 3000
hectares of bat habitat.
ECan is working with DOC
and Lincoln University to protect the only known site
containing the Canterbury Knobbled Weevil. The weevil
thought to be extinct since 1920 was rediscovered near
Burkes Pass four years ago. While scientists work to
identify the risks to this invertebrate ECan is trapping
feral cats, mustelids and hedgehogs at the site and
surrounding area to minimize the potential impact of
predation.
Property compliance inspections are
ongoing to ensure land occupiers are meeting Regional Pest
Management Strategy requirements as they relate to broom,
gorse, ragwort, Old man’s beard and Bennett’s
wallaby.
A control operation to control Bell’s
heather infesting 375 hectares of tall tussock grassland in
the Hunters Hills. This is the only known site in the South
Island.
Land
Biodiversity Strategy signed off. The
Regional Biodiversity Coordinator position has been
advertised, closing date for applications being 29 June
2008. This position is 50% funded by ECan and 50% by central
government and is key to the implementation of the strategy.
Liaison with territorial authorities is an integral part of
this role and it is anticipated that the Coordinator will
spend considerable time in the southern region.
Following community requests and wide public consultation,
ECan councillors approved the establishment of the 165 ha
Lake Tekapo Regional Park in February 2008. ECan staff will
now work with an active community group on the development
of a Concept and Development Plan. It is expected that some
mountain bike and walking tracks will be available for
public use from the spring of 2008.
The Deer Focus
Farm Public Field Day at White Rock Station, Rangitata Gorge
was well attended. ECan staff have helped set up a water
quality monitoring programme as part of a nitrogen
fertiliser trial looking at developing tussock hill country
without spraying and oversowing.
Regional Land Transport
In May 2008, Government announced a $244
million crown funding assistance package for the Canterbury
region, to assist it in delivering its regional land
transport strategy. $33 million is earmarked for the next
four years. This funding goes 50% of the way towards filling
the gap identified between existing identified funding and
that required in total. Government have indicated a modest
regional fuel tax could complete the funding, however this
is linked to the passing of the new legislation anticipated
shortly. An MOU is being developed to set out the ‘rules
of engagement’.
The Canterbury Regional Land
Transport Strategy 2008-18 is due for adoption by the
regional council on 26 June 2008. This has undergone an
extensive consultation process, with well attended hearings
from representative groups from across the spectrum of
stakeholders in the land transport system.
The
Canterbury Region Road Safety Forum was held on 13 June
2008. There was good attendance from across the region, with
Road Safety Co-ordinators, Engineers, Planners, Emergency
Services and Industry representatives in attendance to hear
presentations from the NZ Fire Service, NZ Police, road
safety researchers and an organisational
psychologist.
Hazards
Meetings have been held in
South Canterbury, Mid Canterbury, Christchurch, and North
Canterbury to elect four gravel extractor representatives
and four rating district representatives to the Council's
River Gravel Liaison Committee.
Meetings were held
with 43 of our rating district liaison committees to elect
new chairs and consult on work programmes and
budgets.
Fairway bed levels have been set for the
Pareora and Opihi Rivers.
Maintenance of structural
works and channel capacity continues in river rating
districts.
Work on Washdyke Creek flood mitigation
investigations and river rating district formation has been
delayed due to resignation of Timaru staff member.
The Ashley River floodplain modelling project was completed,
including land use scenarios and reporting.
We
undertook a LiDAR (detailed aerial topographic) survey of
the Halswell floodplain (in partnership with Christchurch
City Council), Lake Waihora margins and the Selwyn River
bed.
The draft earthquake hazard assessment report
for Waimate, Mackenzie and part Waitaki districts has been
received from Geotech Consulting Ltd. It has been peer
reviewed by URS, and comments have been sought from staff at
Waimate and Mackenzie district councils and Meridian Energy.
The main findings of the report have been presented to a
Waimate District Council meeting, and will be presented to
Mackenzie and Waitaki district councils and the Department
of Conservation in the new financial year.
The draft
report on the Hunters Hills Fault Zone behind Waimate and
Timaru has been received from Geotech Consulting Ltd and is
currently being finalised.
We continue to
provide flood and geological hazard advice throughout the
region.
Emergency Management
The Boxing Day Tsunami
event and subsequent events elsewhere led to a major review
of the NZ National Warning System that operates from
National down to Territorial Authority level. The system is
exercised quarterly and is working well. Additional work is
still being carried out at the national level to identify
and recommend a range of systems that can be used by
Territorial Authorities to issue warnings down to local
community level.
A National technical standard has
recently been approved for Tsunami Signage. This provides
for five categories of nationally consistent signs to
support public education and response to tsunamis that may
be used by Territorial Authorities in areas that have a
tsunami risk. The categories of sign are:
o Evacuation
Zones
o Information Boards
o Evacuation Routes
o
Evacuation safe-locations
o Previous events
(impact/elevation)
Work is nearly completed on
standardising the mapping of tsunami evacuation zones around
New Zealand. There will be 3 zones:
o A ‘red zone’
which is a shore (beach zone) that can be placed off limits
in the event of an expected tsunami
o An ‘orange
zone’ which can be divided into an Orange A and B if
needed to give more flexibility in calling official
evacuations for distant source, e.g. South America,
tsunamis
o A ‘yellow zone’, extending beyond the red
and orange zones that allows for all likely and credible
local-source worst-case events. In South Canterbury’s case
the expected effect of a distant source tsunami is greater
than any credible local-source and only red and orange zones
are likely to be used.
The first Canterbury CDEM
Group Plan was approved by the Group in April 2005. Under
the CDEM Act 2002 the plan is required to be reviewed after
5 years and that process will begin in the 2008-2009
financial year. A Group Recovery Plan has now been approved
and it is intended to hold a Group Recovery Exercise later
in the 2008 – 2009 year.
The CDEM Group
Joint-Committee has approved the Group budget and Service
Level Agreement (SLA) with Environment Canterbury for the
provision of Group Emergency Management Office services and
the Group Emergency Coordination Centre for the 2008-09
year. The budget and SLA provide for a continuation of
present work with a particular emphasis on the review of the
CDEM Group Plan and the provision of training for the Group
ECC and Territorial Authority Emergency Operations Centre
staff
Navigation Safety
Contracted patrols in the
Waitaki Lakes ceased at Easter, but with the long summer our
volunteer enforcement officers reported continued boating
activity later in the season.
Maintenance of all
buoys and ski lane signs in the Waitaki Lakes was carried
out with damaged buoys replaced and all their moorings
checked and replaced as required.
Navigation Safety
staff attended the Waitaki Lakes Shoreline Authorities
meeting and also a tour of the lakes by the Waitaki and
Waimate District Councillors at the request of the Waitaki
Lakes and Rivers Committee
Large signs showing the
boating rules for Lake Ruataniwha have been updated and the
old signs are in the process of being replaced. They will
be refurbished and reused to update signs elsewhere.
Updated signs for all the Lake Benmore launching areas are
being prepared presently.
Regular contact between
Environment Canterbury’s Regional Harbourmaster and the
PrimePort pilots continues, and all the required audits of
the pilots have been completed for the year.
Coastal Environment
A monitoring report summarising coastline
changes along the South Canterbury coast over the past ten
years is nearing completion.
The Timaru sea level
recorder, jointly owned and maintained by PrimePort Timaru,
Environment Canterbury and NIWA has entered its seventh year
of operation and continues to provide valuable data on sea
level variability along the South Canterbury Coast. An
annual analysis report for the 2007 calendar year is now
available.
A new regional coastal water quality
monitoring programme is underway. 32 region-wide coastal
sites (including 10 between the Rakaia and Waitaki Rivers)
are now monitored quarterly for ecosystem health including
sampling of suspended sediments, nutrients, pH, salinity,
dissolved oxygen and water temperature.
Consultation
on the Regional Coastal Environment Plan Change Number 3
(Updating Coastal Hazard Zone positions) has been delayed
due to the release of the Proposed NZ Coastal Policy
Statement. ECan has made a submission to the Board of
Inquiry and we await their recommendations and the Minister
of Conservations decisions following the hearing
process.
Waste, Hazardous Substances and Contaminated Sites
Pollution Prevention - three FTE staff and 200
businesses worked with using the Pollution Prevention Guide
in the 07/08 financial year.
Agrichemical collections
in Ashburton, Selwyn, Timaru, Waimate and Mackenzie
districts completed with over 23 tonnes collected.
Canterbury Region Waste Data Addendum Report (2001-2007)
published.
Funding provided to eight waste exchanges
throughout the region, including Timaru, Waimate and
Mackenzie.
We continue to identify and list
contaminated sites throughout the region as they are
investigated for the purposes of land redevelopment and
subdivision.
Air Quality
Monitoring of air quality
continues for Timaru, Ashburton, Geraldine and Waimate.
Daily pollution forecasts for Timaru and Ashburton will run
from 1 May to 31 August 2008. The number of high pollution
nights for these towns to 23 June 2008 (for year ending
2007) are: Timaru – 21 (36); Ashburton – 12 (13);
Geraldine – 5 (1) and Waimate – 6 (0).
The Timaru
Air Quality Working Group (a joint TDC and ECan working
party) has been established and three meetings have been
held since June 2007. The Working Group has been successful
in providing a Clean Heat Project initiative in the Annual
Plan 2008-09. The Working Group has also considered the
communications programme for education and awareness raising
of air quality issues, with further regulatory measures that
may be necessary yet to be considered.
The Ashburton
Joint Working Group (a joint ADC and ECan working party) has
been established and nine meetings have been held since May
2007. The Working Group has been successful in providing a
Clean Heat Project initiative in the Annual Plan 2008-09.
The Working Group has also successfully considered the
communications programme for education and awareness raising
of air quality issues and have produced a draft variation to
the Air Plan which is expected to be notified in July/August
2008.
The final form of the Clean Heat Projects for
Ashburton and Timaru is currently being drafted, and will
focus on a loans programme for eligible homeowners as a
result of the funding form Central Government.
Mediation process continues on the Air Plan.
Energy
ECan has prepared a report on the inter-relationship of
energy with other ECan portfolios (primarily air quality,
water, land use and transport) to identify and address
inconsistencies, omissions, policy contradictions,
unintended consequences and policy shortfalls.
ECan
is providing support for community energy demand reduction
projects and is examining ways of rewarding energy
innovation through establishment of a contestable regional
fund (in conjunction with energy companies and other funding
providers).
The biennial regional energy survey has
been prepared indicating energy and electricity trends in
usage for the period 2005-2006. For the first time since
1982, total energy use in Canterbury declined slightly for
the 2005 and 2006 calendar years.
Public Passenger Transport
Patronage on public passenger transport
servicing Timaru continues to grow. Year-to-date (July 2007
to May 2008) the growth has been 5%, down slightly on my
previous report where we had achieved 5.25% year-to-date.
This is a pleasing result and a positive turn around for
public passenger transport in Timaru following a number of
years of declining patronage.
Staff from Timaru
District Council, bus companies providing our contracted
public passenger transport services and ECan have initiated
regular operations meetings that have proven very helpful in
addressing any concerns associated with public passenger
transport in South Canterbury.
ECan is appreciative
of the support for funding a new bus shelter and the
relocation of an existing shelter to a more suitable
position in the 2008/09 Timaru District Council Annual Plan.
Transport staff at Timaru District Council have quite
rightly identified lack of suitable shelter is a key
disincentive to accessing public passenger transport.
The Southern area Total Mobility committees (Ashburton,
Timaru and Waimate) along with the Christchurch Total
Mobility committee have recommended that ECan adopt the
Phase Two improvements to the Total Mobility scheme as
proposed by Land Transport New Zealand. Adoption of Phase
Two provides access to an increased financial assistance
rate (FAR) from 50% to 60%. The Total Mobility scheme
provides a 50% subsidy on the cost of travel, generally by
taxi, to anyone who has an impairment that prevents them
from accessing 'normal' public passenger transport. The
Southern Area Total Mobility committees and local voluntary
organisations administering the allocation of vouchers on
ECan's behalf do a brilliant job for the
community.
Democratic Process
- Annual Plan 2008/09 submissions have been considered, including hearings held in Timaru on 26 May. This was followed by a full council meeting at the Southern Area Office.
- Preliminary work is underway for the 2009-19 Long Term Council Community Plan. This has included a one-day workshop for Councillors and various work strands being undertaken by staff. This will be pulled together at a further workshop in early July.
ENDS