PUBLIC awareness of water quality and how water is used and is changing the debate around water policy, Irrigation New Zealand’s new chief executive Elizabeth Soal says.
“The wider public is becoming more involved in debates and this trend will continue in the future.
“A lot of the issues around water resources are complex and are long-term issues that are hard to distill into sound bites.”
But the complexities often get lost in media coverage, which tends to simplify the issues.
“People also adopt entrenched positions and it is difficult to get a genuine discussion around the issues.
“Right now we are close to autumn and many parts of the country are still experiencing very dry summer conditions, highlighting the importance of irrigation and water storage for our communities,” she said.
Looking ahead Soal said it’s a very exciting and challenging time for the sector.
“There are a lot of national and regional processes occurring that will affect our members.
“Through IrrigationNZ’s renewed strategic focus on advocacy we will be seeking to ensure that these effects are well understood by the key decision-makers and we are looking forward to working on these issues on behalf of members, communities, the environment and the wider external parties involved.
“As people become more aware of the limitations on water availability there is a trend to adopt newer technology to improve water use efficiency and effectiveness.”
Climate change is a big issue.
“This will result in changes in rainfall with more high-intensity rainfall events but longer periods of drought, which will mean we will be looking at significant changes in the levels of water bodies in the future.”
NZ will be faced with increased flooding events, urban water supply shortages and more demand for irrigation in existing and new areas.
“But it’s not just an issue which affects irrigators.
“To resolve this we are going to need to have some significant discussions around improving our infrastructure in urban and rural areas and that includes our natural infrastructure and our irrigation infrastructure in order to improve our resilience.”
Soal also expects to see changes in the role of iwi in the governance and management of water.
“We don’t know yet what those changes will look like but they will also have an impact.”
IrrigationNZ’s future strategy identifies key priorities for the future – to work on advocacy for the sector, improve its information base and have good training and standards that encourage ongoing improvement.
Clear signals from the Government are that the ways irrigation will develop in the future are not the same as how irrigation has developed in the past.
“So, we need to think about what the irrigation sector will look like in 20 years time and start planning for that now.
“Advocacy is the most important activity from our strategy goals and this includes helping deliver the message that irrigation is key to community wellbeing.
“Irrigation has been demonstrated to be one of the most effective ways to improve community wellbeing with studies showing irrigated areas have increased employment rates, more high value jobs and an increase in school enrollment numbers.
“This, in turn, leads to improved outcomes in a number of other areas, including health and social cohesion.”
IrrigationNZ has recently adopted a new strategy targeted at creating an environment for the responsible use of water for food production.
The strategy focuses on advocacy, encouraging innovation through sharing ideas and adopting new technology, developing a robust information base, bringing the irrigation sector, researchers and decision-makers together to make better decisions for the future and creating world-leading irrigation standards.
With a strong background in water management, law and policy Soal is well qualified to contribute to the goals and to national discussions as IrrigationNZ strives to achieve solutions to complex issues around water allocation that result in good outcomes for both communities and the environment.
Soal has worked as the director of strategy and policy at Waitaki Irrigators Collective for the past eight years and also served on IrrigationNZ’s board from 2011 to 2016.
Until recently she sat on the technical committee of the International Alliance for Water Stewardship, based in Edinburgh.
She has previously worked as a policy adviser for the Ministry of Social Development, at the Ministry of Justice and at law firms in NZ and England.
She has a Master of Arts in politics, a first-class honours degree in politics and a law degree from Otago University. She is now working towards a PhD in geography focusing on freshwater governance in NZ.
“I may sound openly ambitious setting out on this journey but I’m looking forward to it.
“There are a lot of challenges but there’s also a lot of opportunities and we need to be sure we can face those opportunities as part of addressing the challenges.
“I am looking forward to leading the implementation of IrrigationNZ’s new strategy, which, I think, will take the industry in a really positive direction.
“Managing our freshwater effectively while reducing our environmental footprint is critical for the wellbeing of our communities and for NZ as a whole.”
In June IrrigationNZ hosts its first-ever trade show, IF.2019 – Irrigation Futures.
The two-day exhibition and professional development platform will showcase both NZ and international exhibitors, industry leaders and influencers, who will form the biggest collective platform ever presented by IrrigationNZ.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to participate in national-level discussions about these important issues.”
While IrrigationNZ is based in Canterbury, Oamaru will remain home-base for Soal who will spread her time between North Otago, Canterbury, Wellington and Hawke’s Bay and other parts of the country as industry issues demand.
In her spare time Soal plays squash and touch and enjoys gardening and reading.
She has previously chaired North Otago Women’s Rugby and was the deputy chairwoman of the North Otago Rugby Union.
Soal takes up the reins from former chief executive Andrew Curtis who left the position in January.
