Hurunui - Waiau Zone Committee meeting

The Hurunui-Waiau Zone Committee will meet for its final monthly meeting of the year in Amberley on Monday, 9 December.

The committee will begin the meeting with an update from the Regional Committee, before receiving an update on consent applications in the zone from Environment Canterbury.

Next the committee will hear from a group proposing to develop a hydro generation and irrigation scheme using water from Kakapo Brook that runs through Glynn Wye Station.

The committee will then focus on implementing land-use and water quality (LUWQ) initiatives in the zone. Land use intensification is having a significant impact on water quality in Canterbury.

The LUWQ project is a collaborative project between Environment Canterbury and a number of primary sector and non-governmental organisations. It works alongside the CWMS and aims to assess the effects of land use on the region’s waterways and their associated ecosystems. It also involves extensive work with the community to develop processes and tools which can be used to reduce nutrient run-off and leaching into waterways.

Following this, the committee will receive information from Environment Canterbury on water quality monitoring options for catchment groups in the zone. This will be followed by presentations from Dairy NZ on Sustainable Milk Planning and Fonterra on nitrogen loss bench-marking.

At the meeting the committee will also have a discussion on Environment Canterbury’s proposal to delay the review of consents in relation to minimum flows so resources are not diverted from activities to improve nutrient management.

The meeting will finish with the committee appointing a chair, deputy chair and Regional Committee representative for 2014.

The Hurunui-Waiau Zone Committee is a joint committee of Environment Canterbury and Hurunui District Council. It includes seven community members, two Rūnanga representatives, and one each from Hurunui District Council, and Environment Canterbury.

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