Waimakariri Zone Committee focuses on sub-regional planning

The Waimakariri Zone Committee will meet in Rangiora on Monday (13 April) for its regular monthly meeting to address local water management issues.

The zone committee will begin the meeting by giving members of the public the opportunity to contribute, should they wish, before going on to receive updates from its working groups and the progress being made to address water management priorities in the zone.

The committee will then receive a briefing from Environment Canterbury on how it plans to resource and support the ongoing delivery of the community’s water management expectations as outlined in its Zone Implementation Programme (ZIP).

Next, the committee will review and approve its water management priorities for the next five years to help guide and formulate short to medium term work programmes. The committee’s five key outcomes relate to lowland waterways, braided rivers, nutrient management and water use efficiency, water supply, and biodiversity.

The committee will finish the meeting with three workshops, with the first focusing on the scientific and technical groundwater work underway in the zone to inform sub-regional planning.

The second workshop will focus on water quality modelling and the potential changes in Nitrate-Nitrogen concentrations in ground water. Two modelling scenarios, environmental and sustainable development, will be reviewed with the committee.

The final workshop will review the committee’s planning for engagement with the community this year as it begins to build towards sub-regional planning processes which will begin in mid-2016.

The Waimakariri Zone Committee, formed in September 2010, operates as a joint committee of Environment Canterbury, and the Waimakariri District Council. It features five community members as well as two Rūnanga representatives and two from councils.

The zone includes the Ashley River catchment and shares the Waimakariri catchment below the gorge with the Selwyn-Waihora and Christchurch-West Melton zones. It includes Kaiapoi, Rangiora and Oxford.

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