The Waimate District Council (WDC) report on the potential economic and employment effects of new Essential Freshwater new rules and regulations also warns of a loss of between $72 million and $76m in annual expenditure.
This follows a similar report for the Ashburton District Council, which warned more than 1200 people could lose their job as a result of the policy, along with a decline in expenditure of more than $260m a year.
A peer review of the Ashburton findings concluded they were conservative.
Waimate Mayor Craig Rowley says the results did not surprise the council.
“We were not surprised. We thought there would be some fairly serious impacts,” Rowley said.
The challenge is how to improve water quality, while limiting the economic impact.
Rowley says his council planned to meet with the farming sector, catchment and water zone groups to determine what environmental initiatives are under way, how farmers can be supported and what farmers need to do to meet the new regulations.
“We’ll get there,” he said
The report for the WDC, by Rationale Ltd, found that in 2018 there were 4047 jobs in the district, so the potential job loss from freshwater regulations will equate to 8.5% of all people employed.
Similarly, the gross domestic product of the district in 2018 was $342m, of which agriculture contributed 51%.
Sheep and beef farms employ 321 people in Waimate and make up more than 75% of farmed livestock, whereas dairy represents 20% of livestock but employs 510 people.
Farming in the district is already impacted by Plan Change 3 and Plan Change 5 being implemented by Environment Canterbury, which establishes water quality and quantity standards and a maximum nitrogen cap based on soil type and location.
The report authors noted the requirements of these plans were not uniform but differ across the district.
