Quite rightly, farmers want answers as soon as possible on the key details around Variation 6. How much the resource consents will cost, how much the monitoring will cost and who will do the monitoring?
The regional council is contacting more than 3000
dairy farmers who need resource consents under the amendment to the regional plan, which was given the
nod late last year after 37 appeals to the Environment
Court.
The variation allows dairy farms to take 15 cubic metres of water a day for use in the dairy shed, anything above that will require resource consent.
What farmers fear is that it will cost thousands of dollars to achieve those consents depending on the type of consent and the water source.
Some believe it's an adversarial process which is costly and very difficult to work through. One farmer describes it as an attack on agriculture.
The WRC has signalled that Variation 6 is not anywhere near as onerous as it sounds.
As part of Variation 6, farmers will automatically get consent for as much water as they were taking in 2008 – the date the Plan was notified. They have until 2015 to lodge an application for this.
However, farmers are guaranteed to get their water consent subject to certain conditions which may include fencing streams and planting along stream banks. They have three years to complete the fencing and the duration of the consent – in most cases 15 years to complete the riparian planting.
These may sound reasonable timeframes but farmers are rightly nervous. The onus is on WRC to reassure farmers Variation 6 is a win-win outcome. The council is working closely with Fonterra, Federated Farmers and DairyNZ on this. It's essential that farmers are given full support and information as Variation 6 is implemented.
How Variation 6 works out will have wider implications for other regions also struggling with competing users for water resources. Therefore, WRC must get it right.
