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Water availability community meetings in Canterbury

The availability of water - pumped from wells, rivers and streams - and a climate forecast for the summer will be discussed at a series of community meetings hosted by Environment Canterbury, beginning Tuesday, November 6.

Five community water meetings will be held in Central and Mid Canterbury and for the first time, in South Canterbury, reflecting the growing demand for groundwater region-wide, said ECan acting director investigations and monitoring Ken Taylor.

All meetings are open to the public with time for questions. ECan groundwater and surface water scientists, consents and other ECan staff will present the most up-to-date information on the water resource as it affects consent holders and the environment.

As in previous years, the annual “State of the Canterbury Region Water Resource October 2007” is the key document, but other issues to be addressed include a summary of the recently-released dairy shed effluent compliance report. The Dunsandel and Chertsey meetings will also hear an update of ECan’s collaborative Living Streams programme.

Meetings are scheduled for:    
Tuesday November 6 
1.30 pm to 3.45 pm
Dunsandel Community Hall, Hororata Rd, Dunsandel 
Chaired by ECan Rakaia councillor Angus McKay
(specific to Rakaia-Selwyn and Selwyn-Waimakariri groundwater zones)

7 pm - 9 pm
West Melton Community Centre, State Highway 73, West Melton
Chaired by ECan Selwyn Banks Peninsula councillor Eugenie Sage
(specific to Christchurch-West Melton groundwater zone)

Thursday, November 8
9.30 am - 11.30 am
Hinds Community Centre, Rogers St, Hinds
Chaired by Cr Angus McKay
(specific to Mayfield-Hinds and Valetta groundwater zones)

1.30 pm - 3.45 pm
Chertsey Community Centre, Chertsey Line Rd, Chertsey
Chaired by Cr Angus McKay
(specific to Chertsey, Ashburton River, and Ashburton-Lyndhurst groundwater zones)

Thursday, November 15
1.30 pm - 3.30 pm
Greyway Lounge, Timaru Racecourse, Racecource Road, Washdyke
Chaired by ECan South Canterbury councillor Mark Oldfield
(specific to Pareora, Otaio, Makikihi and Hook groundwater zones).

“These community meetings are an important forum for talk between the water-using community and ECan water resource managers and scientists,” said Ken Taylor. “ECan needs to get some general messages out at the start of the irrigation season and we also need to hear back from the farming community what their concerns are and ways we can work better together. We’ve had good feedback from these meetings in the past.”

The report, “State of the Canterbury Region Water Resource October 2007”, will be available  from Tuesday, November 6, on ECan’s website www.ecan.govt.nz    Hard copies can also be obtained, at cost, from Customer Services by phoning 0800 EC INFO (0800 324 636) or emailing ecinfo@ecan.govt.nz

  
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