Canterbury Water Management Strategy – Ashburton Zone Committee Announced.

The Ashburton Water Management Zone Committee has been finalised and will be officially launched by Minister of Agriculture David Carter on September 10. Ashburton is the third zone committee of the 10 to be established under the Canterbury Water Management Strategy.

Six community members have been appointed to the Ashburton Zone Committee following a thorough selection process to find the best combination of people with the skills, interests and expertise to ensure the collective strength of the committee.

The six Ashburton community members were selected from a total of 29 applications. They are Gordon Guthrie, Greg Roadley, Sheryl Stivens, Matthew Hall, Ben Curry and Donna Field.

The zone committee also includes Ashburton District Councillor Neil Brown, Environment Canterbury Commissioner David Caygill, and runanga representation.

Ashburton Mayor Bede O’Malley and Environment Canterbury Commissioner David Caygill are pleased with the range of values, interests and experience the six community representatives bring to the committee.

“While each member brings different strengths to the committee, they all share a common passion for the district and a desire to ensure its resources are properly managed in the interests of the community at large,” said Mayor Bede O’Malley.

Environment Canterbury Commissioner David Caygill also acknowledged the impressive and wide-ranging list of individual qualifications, accomplishments, interests and occupations.

“As a group, they have the breadth and depth of expertise to work collaboratively to develop creative solutions to water management issues in Ashburton District, while addressing the priorities set out in the Canterbury Water Management Strategy,” said Mr Caygill.

The working group tasked with selecting the community representatives included Mayor Bede O’Malley and Councillor John Leadley, along with representatives from Environment Canterbury, Canterbury Water and Te Runanga o Arowhenua. They assessed each applicant on skills, expertise, and experience as well as their ability to work together to develop water management solutions that deliver economic, social, cultural and environmental outcomes.

Mayor Bede O’Malley said Ashburton District Council wholeheartedly endorsed the implementation of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy and recognised the significance of encouraging community input on water issues in the district and to taking a regional approach to sustainable water management in Canterbury.

“Water access, use and quality issues are arguably the biggest challenge ahead for the whole of Canterbury and the people of Ashburton District are in no doubt as to its importance,” said Mr O’Malley.

The Ashburton Zone Committee will work with local communities to develop a plan to implement the goals and actions of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy within Ashburton District and linking with other zone programmes throughout Canterbury. This will begin with the “Immediate Steps” biodiversity protection and restoration programme.

“Having representation of the calibre we have on the Ashburton zone committee will ensure we make quality decisions on water management in this district that will serve current and future generations well – developing sustainable approaches to water that deliver real benefits to our community,” said Mr O’Malley.

Committee member biographies

Gordon Guthrie (Methven/Ashburton)

Gordon has a strong technical knowledge of the electricity/energy industry and a broad understanding of the local productive, environmental, economic and community issues. He is General Manager of Electricity Ashburton with more than 30 years experience across all sectors of the electricity industry.

He was involved during the construction and operation of the Montalto hydroelectric station on the Rangitata Diversion Race and has undertaken feasibility studies for water storage and hydro generation potential in the Ashburton district.

He developed the joint venture with Barhill-Chertsey Irrigation to construct a new pipe irrigation scheme and worked closely with the Ashburton Community Water Trust to integrate generation with irrigation and the subsequent consent process for the Rakaia Terrace project.

Gordon is interested in the potential to integrate hydro generation with irrigation and other water storage initiatives.

“The efficient productive use of water in our community and the use of modern IT technologies for water management are additional drivers for my interest.”

Gordon and his wife Debbie run a small cattle stud on their Winchmore property.

Greg Roadley (Ashburton)

Greg is Director of the Glenroy Community Irrigation Company, and chair of the Production Management Committee for Canterbury Grasslands.

He wants to see water managed to best effect for the community.

“I strongly believe that water is the most valuable resource in Canterbury and needs to be managed with a holistic view with good governance, not advocacy, acting in the best interests of the entire community, ensuring that my children continue to enjoy the benefits that water currently provides.”

Greg is a dairy (1700 cows) and arable farmer in mid-Canterbury who irrigates his land from surface and artesian sources within the zone. Together with his wife Rachel, he won the National 2005 Fonterra-Westpac farm business of the year, an environmental award for dairy excellence.

Greg is actively involved in the wider dairy industry through investment in other operations within New Zealand and overseas, and through volunteer work in industry activities.

Greg is married to Rachel and they have two young children.

Sheryl Stivens (Willowby/Ashburton)

With 26 years experience in governance, community involvement, and a strong commitment to sustainability, Sheryl originally developed the Wastebusters Education programme and facilitated workshops to share the programme with educators throughout New Zealand. The education programme won national awards for the Ashburton district.

Over the past 16 years she has been committed to developing and managing the WasteBusters Trust Canterbury and resigned from the organisation in April 2010.

Sheryl is on the New Zealand Waste Advisory Board, is a member of the Executive of Community Recycling Network of NZ, and also a member of the Sector Advisory Group for the NZ Resource Recovery Industry.

She says she is “passionate about sustainable living, sustainable farming, sustainable use of resources and biodiversity.”

“I am interested in the process of future-proofing the water resources of the Ashburton district.”

Raised on a border dyke-irrigated family farm at Winchmore, Sheryl and her husband now have a small organic farm at Willowby. She says she understood and valued water from an early age, reinforced in adulthood by two years living in the Riverina grain growing area of Australia.

Sheryl is married and has two children.

Matthew Hall (Ashburton)

Matthew is secretary for the South Rangitata Reserve Incorporated, a member of the Ashburton River/Hakatere Mouth Action Committee, and currently serves as a councillor on the Central South Island Fish and Game Council.

Matthew has a number of private trusteeships and recently finished after more than 40 years with Perpetual Trust Limited. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

He has lived in the district for more than 30 years and has with strong links to the farming community. Matthew is also an active advocate for the Rangitata River (where his family has a holiday cottage) and other rivers and lakes in which he has fished.

“The challenge for me has been marrying this interest in the rivers with the value I perceive is gained from irrigation. The answer is about sustainable outcomes and to achieve this there needs to be a balanced and collaborative approach.”

Matthew is married to Karen with four adult children.

Ben Curry (Christchurch)

Ben is Chief Executive of the Rangitata Diversion Race Management, the largest and oldest water supply organisation in New Zealand, which supplies water to the Ashburton District Council for domestic and stockwater use, to TrustPower for hydro-generation and more than 350 farming businesses.

“The future of water governance is a critical component of the RDRML strategy,” he says.

Ben is a member of Irrigation NZ and the Ashburton Water User Group.

He is widely experienced as a communicator, manager, negotiator and leader.

Prior to his engagement with the RDRML he spent 22 years as an officer in the Royal Marines in the United Kingdom. Within the Marines, his roles were varied including managing a £650 million integrated IT system which sought to combine the operational systems of the Navy, Air Force, Army and Joint HQ.

He was also Chief of Operations and Planning for the UN mission in Liberia, West Africa and Chief of ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target, Acquisition, and Reconnaissance) for the UK Amphibious Task Force.

Ben, who is married with three children, enjoys cycling, cricket, sailing, canoeing and diving.

Donna Field (Rakaia Gorge)

Donna is chair of the Whitcombe Landcare Group, a committee member of Ashburton Forest and Bird, liaison contact with Solid Energy for the Millerton and Plateau Protection Society (MAPPS), and a member of the Mid Canterbury High Country Section of Federated Farmers. She is fully engaged in the community including school and fundraising roles.

Donna says she has a strong ecological background and a deep interest in the water conservation and usage issues of the Ashburton zone.

“It is in finding the sustainable balance between these issues that my interest lies.”

She is a sheep and beef farmer and a director of Cleardale Station, near the Rakaia River above the Rakaia Gorge.

Riparian strips have been planted on the property, areas of dry land scrub reserves created, two centre pivot irrigators are used, and in conjunction with MainPower a 1 megawatt hydro power plant is currently being developed.

Donna is married with four children attending school in Methven.

ENDS

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