Ponding areas ‘better under board’s control’

Press, 28 July 1986, Page 9

Ponding areas ‘better under board’s control’

Natural ponding areas between Clarkville and Woodend might be better under the control of the North Canterbury Catchment Board rather than be farmed as freehold land, the board’s operations committee was told on Friday.

Mr Trevor Inch said the board should consider buying the land in the Flaxton, Ohoka, and Barkers swamp areas if it became available. Water from the floods sit the beginning of July was still lying in those areas, making it impossible to farm the land, he said.

The Eyre County Council had written to the

board seeking a meeting to discuss the flooding of July 7.

Councillors had been concerned about the amount of flooding in the Clarkville area. They felt drains there and the culverts under the northern motorway were inadequate. The motorway effectively became a dam during the heavy rain, causing widespread flooding and the evacuation of one house, they said.

The letter from the council suggested that work be done to divert future floodwaters into the Waimakariri River. Mr Inch said some farmers who had been in thesarea for only five or

six years had overreacted to the flooding. They had learnt what stormwater drains were for and realised that stories of flooding told by older farmers had not been exaggerated.

He said land in the swamp areas was being farmed although they were natural ponding areas.

Diverting 'floodwater away from the swamps and running it off quickly could create further problems, said Mr Inch. It might be better for the board to acquire the land if it became available and allow it to be used for ponding, he said. The committee agreed to meet the County Council to discuss the problem.