IRRIGATION IN CANTERBURY

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28950, 18 July 1959, Page 14

IRRIGATION IN CANTERBURY

Major Work Nearing Completion (From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, July 17. Work on authorised major irrigation projects in Canterbury is now nearing completion, according to the Ministry of Works statement for the year ended March 31 last. For the 1958-59 season, a total of 97.952 acre feet of water was delivered, compared with 17,619 acre feet for the previous season. The report says that race construction on the last block of the 85,000 acre Mayfield-Hinds scheme is well in hand, the gross area reticulated so far being about 70,000 acres, leaving 15,000 acres yet to be reticulated. Construction work on the new Valetta farm settlement scheme was sufficiently far advanced to allow the scheme to go into operation for the first time at the beginning of the 1958-59 irrigation season. "This area is showing up extremely well, largely due to the fact that the area has not been intensively cultivated in the past.” says the report. It is recorded that an unusually dry year resulted in a steady demand for water, leading to an alltime record water usage. The. five Canterbury schemes are shown having a gross area of 180,700 acres, of which 115,635 acres were covered by irrigation contracts at the end of the period.