Balmoral farmers in favour of irrigation

Press, 10 December 1979, Page 4

Balmoral farmers in favour of irrigation

Farmers in the Balmoral s district, North Canterbury, t have voted overwhelmingly in favour of an irrigation t scheme in their area. r The voting finished on Fri-/ day. The Amuri County 1 Clerk. Mr B. J. Peters said 1 that all those eligible had voted: 21 for and three 1 against, giving those in ' favour a majority of 87.5 e per cent. s As a prerequisite to the construction of an irrigation , scheme, the Minister of Works and Development re- ( quires that not less than 60,. per cent of valid votes must ( be in favour of it. The chairman of the dis- c trict’s irrigation committee (Mr P. D. Draper), said \ farmers in the area had seen t Work proceeding on the / nearby Waiau Plains irriga- s tion scheme and had ob- c viously not been put off by t what they had seen. q The present exceptional t year for moisture and S growth had shown what might be expected con- f

stantly if they had irrigation. But they still had a long way to go. They were still negotiating with the North Canterbury Regional Water Board for a water right for the scheme. It was important that a low flow level was set ini the Hurunui River to give enough water to make the scheme viable. The District Commissioner! of Works (Mr P. F. Reynolds), who is also chairman of the Canterbury officials' committee on irrigation, said last evening that the result of the poll was another positive step in the promotion of irrigation in Canterbury. The proposed scheme would cover about 5500 ha, taking in about 25 farms. About 95 per cent of the area was expected to be border dyked, with the remainder being spray irrigated. The total cost of construction was estimated at about $4.6 million. The North Canterbury Re-, gional Water Board was at'

present considering a watirallocation plan for the Hu- ; runui and had not been able [ to make a recommendation ion the w’ater-right appJi- ■ cation for the scheme. However it had decided to hold an informal hearing to ' help it make its recom- ' mendation. This would probably be held in February. The Balmoral scheme .'would probably have to suffer some restiction on water supply during the dry ! months. If the restriction I was too great it would jeopardise the scheme. If the water-right recommendation was favourable an application would be . made to the Amuri County ’ Council to have the scheme ' incorporated into its district ! scheme. The Ministry of Works and Development would pro- . ceed with designing the ■ scheme so that it could start : wmrk as soon as the water right had been granted and funds had been made available.