Decision will be made nationally on Rakaia River

Press, 19 July 1983, Page 8

Decision will be made nationally on Rakaia River

Conservation of the Rakaia River will be decided at a national level, rather than locally, the Minister of Works, Mr Friedlander, revealed in Ashburton last evening. Mr Friedlander, speaking to a meeting of the local National Party’s electorate committee which was later opened to the public, also said that the Crown would be applying for water rights for all irrigators from the river. The Rakaia River is the proposed source of three big irrigation schemes for Canterbury, and earlier this year it was also the subject of a Water Conservation Order by the New Zealand Acclimatisation Societies. The societies’ application could have been dealt with as a Local Water Conservation Notice, which would have been made by the Regional Water Board, but Mr Friedlander said last evening that the decision had been made for it to be considered as a National Water Conservation Order which is made finally by an order in council. He said that the decision had been made because of the wide interest in the future of the resource and the number of parties who were likely to want to support or object to the proposal.

Public notification of the order would be made shortly, and the results of the application would affect other planning matters. However, planning work and the application for water rights would proceed, he said. Applications for rights to take water from the Rakaia River had been lodged by irrigation committees, from the Central Plains High-bank-Barr Hill and the lower Rakaia. Approval in principle for the lower Rakaia scheme had been recommended by the Water Resources Council and the Government was now considering that, he said. The complexities of dealing with a range of applications could lead to decisions' being made which did not suit the interests of all parties, therefore the Crown would apply for rights on behalf of all the irrigators, he said. The North Canterbury Catchment Board is responsible for the Rakaia River, but its South Canterbury counterpart is also responsible for some of its tributaries. ■' Mr Friedlander said that that further complicated dealing with the applications. Representatives of the

Mid-Canterbury group of the Save the Rivers Campaign also attended the meeting along with irrigators. Mr Friedlander assured them that ample opportunity was being made to ensure that everybody interested would be heard and that their views would be fully considered. He said that the conservation order would be dealt with by the National Water and Soil Authority and would be held in tandem with the hearings for water rights. The authority would make its recommendation to him and, if there were no he would then make the decision on the order. If there were objections, there could be an appeal to the Town and Country Planning Tribunal which again made a recommendation to him. He said that it was a system which should allow all parties to be heard. He said the biggest hindrance to irrigation in Canterbury was not finance but the time needed to give planning approvals. In the case of the lower Rakaia, which he said was most advanced, a,final decision could be expected by perhaps September or October this year.