Scheme designers were following a well-trodden path in Canterbury irrigation; designing and costing a project without knowing exactly how many farmers and other funders would back it.
Pile, originally a project manager for HWP, said it was a classic chicken and egg situation but HWP had never been closer to being realised.
In its modern form, the idea of storing water from the Hurunui River or other water bodies in the area first surfaced in 2001.
A prospectus for an HWP water rights issue was expected to go out to shareholders for sign-up in March or April 2018, Pile said.
The project would irrigate a smaller area than it was consented for under the now-defunct Hurricane Gully dam in the Waitohi Valley option.
HWP was now considering options for a pond or ponds near Hurunui River to store high flows for delivery to pipes running through the district.
The volume of planned storage had dropped from 250 million cubic metres under Hurricane Gully to 25 million cubic metres using ponds. The revised plan had cut the irrigation command area from 58,000ha to 35,000ha in the Hurunui area plus a further 9000ha in the nearby Waipara catchment.
HWP's target was a total irrigable area of 21,000ha.
Pile said while a reduced area potentially made it more expensive to deliver water to farmers, the calculation was not simple because the amount of storage and canal infrastructure required to build it was also much smaller
The critical phase now was feasibility checks, funding, plan compliance and an ultimate call for financial support.
HWP earlier this year agreed an interest-bearing loan with its shareholders, a feasibility pre-construction agreement with Rooney Group for resources and funding and secured dollar for dollar funding with Crown Irrigation Investments.
A feasibility group comprising expertise from both HWP and Rooney was reviewing optimal design, intake and storage solutions.
Pile said Rooney’s involvement in HWP was different to its financing and construction of other Canterbury irrigation schemes in that the contract was solely for pre-feasibility design.
It was “not a given” the firm would go on to build the scheme but there was an expectation, he said.
HWP was meantime drafting its terms of water use for farmers to consider before sign-up.
As the project moved forward towards a potential start date, HWP was planning work to fulfil conditions attached to the resource consents. At the same time, with the review of the Hurunui-Waiau River Regional Plan (HWRRP) on the horizon, HWP was working closely with the Hurunui-Waiau Zone Committee, Pile said.
