'Total dismay’ at ruling

Press, 16 May 1985, Page 2

'Total dismay’ at ruling

The Planning Tribunal’s ruling on Rakaia River irrigation water was the knell of major irrigation development, said Mr John Morris, president of the New Zealand Irrigation Association, yesterday.

Mr Morris said there would not be enough water left in low-flow drought years to provide a water supply reliable enough to justify the investment that would be involved in irrigation.

“Some development will be possible, but we are now faced with deciding where this should be — who gets water and who doesn’t,” he said.

Mr Morris said he experienced a feeling of total dismay and, ultimately, outrage at the tribunal’s decision.

The tribunal appeared to have been swayed very markedly by Dr Gordon Glova’s evidence, said Mr Morris. The scientific basis

of this evidence should be questioned very seriously. It was unfortunate that the total weight of “hard, cold data” presented by the irrigation interests had not carried the weight it should have.

The Rakaia River held the key to continued economic growth in Canterbury. Without water there would be little progress based on rural areas. “If the legislation sur-

rounding the conservation order means that this is the price we must pay for total river protection, I say the price is too high and New Zealand cannot afford that kind of luxury,” Mr Morris said.

“To watch one of this nation’s greatest natural resources pour out to sea while surrounding farmland burns up in summer droughts is not the way towards continued growth in New Zealand,” he said.