Rangitata Diversion Race Management has been given the green light by independent commissioners who have granted 22 consents related to the storage pond.
While it is an exciting step and reward for five years of work to date the proposers remain a little nervous, chief executive Ben Curry said.
“We are thrilled that all the work, including a lot of international research that we have put in over the past five years has resulted in a very positive outcome.
“It’s still open for appeal until the end of the month but we’re mostly confident that we can address any issues that may be appealed.”
The proposed 53,000,000 cubic metre pond will be the biggest of its kind in Australasia.
The pond will store water to boost local stream flows and managed aquifer recharge to enhance groundwater supply and provide habitat for flora and fauna and support recreation.
The firm has supplied water for hydro-generation, irrigation and stock water in the region for more than 70 years.
Curry said growing interest in water storage prompted the project.
“We have established infrastructure and we’re in a position to meet that need.”
Storage will help manage water more efficiently, improve fish screens and irrigation reliability and put thre firm in a position to provide water for wider use, including into South Canterbury.
“This is a real win not just for RDR and its shareholders but much wider in that RDR will be able to supply water much wider and particularly south of the (Rangitata) river and into South Canterbury.”
Water is also tagged to supplement flows in the Ashburton River and managed aquifer recharge.
“We put forward a very strong evidence-based proposal and we got everything we asked for and there’s a lot of winning in that for a lot of purposes.”
The new consents relating to the storage pond mean the firm can take an extra 10 cumecs of water from the Rangitata River when the river is in flood and flows reach 136 cumecs.
The pond will be developed across 250 hectares, most of which is owned by the company, next to the Rangitata River.
Curry said storage will allow better use of natural resources, which is encouraged in national policy statements on freshwater use.
The project is predicted to contribute an average $34m a year to the GDP of Ashburton District.
Hunter Downs in South Canterbury is preparing to issue a new product disclosure statement in a bid to secure a future for its proposed water scheme.
Chairman Andrew Fraser said the board is considering a new commercial funding model after Hunter Downs was left high and dry by Crown Irrigation Investments.
“There’s been quite a few changes since the first public disclosure statement so we are preparing a new one to present at a meeting in August where we will update shareholders and announce the board’s recommendation for future funding.”
While he expects it will take a few days for shareholders to get their heads around the new funding model the board hopes to get commitment from shareholders after the meeting.
There will be no changes to the proposed scheme itself or the predicted annual charges.
“If they are all in agreeance we will carry on,” Fraser said.
Hunter Downs has resource consent to use Waitaki River water and plans to irrigate 12,000 hectares and provide domestic water for Waimate and Timaru.
Updated costs for the Waimea dam project have blown the proposed budget by $26m.
Tasman Mayor Richard Kemphtorne said unless a solution can be found to close the gap the dam won’t go ahead.
The construction cost of the Lee Valley dam near Nelson makes up a big chunk of the higher costs, coming in at just over $68m, about $18m higher than the $49.8m build estimate.
Central Plains Water is on track with the $200m stage two to supply water from September 1.
Covering the area between the Selwyn and Waimakariri Rivers, stage two will service 20,000ha, supplying pressurised water to farms, on top of the 23,000ha irrigated in stage one.
In stage two about half of CPW’s farmer-shareholders are existing irrigators who will switch from groundwater to surface water from the scheme, with the remaining half new irrigation.
The district is predominantly mixed cropping and sheep and beef and apart from a handful of farms is not expected to change to dairying.
