Crutchley was initially reluctant to become involved in the murky world of water and irrigation management but was prodded into action in response to what he considered inflated water prices being demanded by the precursor to the Maniototo Irrigation Company.
So began an involvement that continues today but which has challenged some of his previous views while shaping others.
His experience has formed views on three issues in particular.
He believes market forces do not work for water allocation, Wellington politicians and bureaucrats need to be kept out of water management and the best water management is one that reflects all community interests.
Importantly, removing the adversarial approach to water management means all parties are involved in decision-making, which can require compromises be made.
“It actually works if you get them all in a room because you are not hearing all the arguing.”
It also exposes all parties to other options they might not have considered.
His involvement in water management has also influenced his daughter Emma, who this year completed a Kellogg Rural Leadership Programme on water.
She found people are reluctant to respond to authority unless they understand why but empowering communities enables flexible solutions and shared economic social and environmental values.
“Agreed principles give the opportunity for groups to identify shared values.
“If groups agree in principle, this enhances the opportunity to build trust,” she said.
Failure to build trust heightens the likelihood of resource consent applications ending up before the Environment Court.
What she calls good environmental policy will alter behaviour to suit a community’s needs and NZ can be a world leader in freshwater management by using that social capital.
“This is reliant on central and regional government recognising the value of community engagement.”
She was also involved with several other local women in forming Water Maniototo, a group that created a video that went viral on social media highlighting the cost and impact of the Labour Party’s proposed policy of imposing a water tax.
The arrival of irrigation in Maniototo in the early 1980s was associated by massive uncertainty when the government pulled out of the partly finished irrigation project because of soaring costs.
The Ministry of Works began construction of the irrigation and hydroelectric power scheme in 1976 with an estimated construction cost of $6.2m.
Work stopped in 1983 when costs soared to $32m and with water supplied to only about a third of the intended area.
It was sold to farmers in 1990 for $1 along with debts and liabilities.
They completed it in 1995 for $1.7m after an evaluation trimmed it to what farmers could afford.
When completed it still carried the same volume of water and supplied the same intended area but savings were made in what was an over-designed scheme, with scaling back to fewer, smaller concrete structures.
Ownership was eventually transferred to the Maniototo Irrigation Company.
Fed by the 800ha Loganburn dam, which holds nearly 100m cubic metres of water, it supplies the Taieri River and irrigates some 9300ha.
In 2014 the dam height was raised, increasing the water that can be stored, in what was a relatively seamless consenting exercise because all interested parties were involved in the decision.
Crutchley said that is the point.
Water efficiency cannot be defined without clarity about what is trying to be achieved and maximising efficiency means taking account of social, environmental and economic effects.
About 2001 Otago University researcher Margot Parkes toured the upper catchment of the 200km Taieri River for a study on integrating catchment ecosystems and community health.
She found everyone wanted the same outcomes, he said.
All interested groups were called to a meeting and instead of a tense, agitated gathering everyone was reasonable and keen to create a management structure that looked after the river.
“It was an interesting experience for me as I was listening to different people with different perspectives.”
The Upper Taieri Water Resource Management Trust was formed and employed Gretchen Robertson, who later became deputy chairwoman of the Otago Regional Council.
Representing more than 150 water users, it had a goal of producing a model for community self-management, facilitating communication between the groups and taking practical steps such as encouraging riparian planting. Crutchley was the group’s initial chairman.
The riparian planting is an example of the importance of communication.
Farmers were willing to accommodate other groups’ wishes for more tree planting so long as it wasn’t cracked-willow.
The trust proved so successful it got Sustainable Farming Fund money beyond the initial three-year term and has continued to advocate for community input into river management.
Its premise of bringing diverse interest groups together to find common ground has even more relevance as the Otago Regional Council negotiates the transition from farmers operating under historic deemed water permits to resource consents.
While fine in theory, finding common ground is not all plain sailing and Crutchley says positions agreed to in general discussion can be derailed when lawyers appear.
Emma Crutchley said people react differently to conflict, often entering a debate or discussion determined not to lose or make compromises.
But if people can accept they might lose an argument or be prepared to compromise yet still be involved in making decisions on a topic or issue, they can achieve their goals.
Before the last election Crutchley was invited by Fish and Game Otago to talk about his opposition to the proposed water tax.
Fearing he was entering a lion’s den, he was delighted at the fair hearing he received.
He argued a tax tilted the balance of water management toward the highest economic values at the expense of other uses and environmental and social considerations.
“When discussing the maximum benefit to the community, all the factors have to be considered evenly. You are not going to have a fair debate if you are holding a tax over the use of water,” Crutchley says.
Emma Crutchley said the key is for groups to trust each other and that comes from talking.
In the northwest corner of the Maniototo basin, Kyeburn Catchment is replacing irrigation water rights, known as mining permits established during the gold mining era, with resource consents.
But it doesn’t always mean the process runs flawlessly.
Kyeburn irrigators have pursued MIC’s community-wide approach to get consensus but the council’s decision to grant the consents is being appealed against by Otago Fish and Game even though irrigators have agreed and were implementing new, higher minimum flows in the Kyeburn River.
Crutchley has real concerns at water regulations being set by politicians and bureaucrats in Wellington.
“Decisions should be what the community wants to do with the resource, not Wellington.”
National policy statements, as Environment Minister David Parker proposes for water quality, establish the lowest common denominator without recognising community values and desires.
“Put the challenge out there about what has got to be achieved then let communities solve the problem.
“They will and they are far better at it than politicians.”
He has a similar view to prescriptive regional council rules.
“If you have a book of rules which states you must do as I say and you still have dirty water, what do you do now?”
He prefers the Otago Regional Council’s approach of telling consent holders what must be achieved in terms of water quality but leaving it up to them and the community how that is achieved.
“It is virtually a guarantee they will achieve what they set out to achieve.”
