Canty irrigation scheme presses on

The company says it has received “unanimous support” of at least 200 shareholders for starting work on the 20,000ha stage, due to be finished by September 2018. At the same time the 4250ha Sheffield scheme will also be built.

“While preliminary design work has already begun on both projects, the main construction will not hit peak until the middle of next year,” CPW chief executive Derek Crombie says.

“The decision, reached at a recent special meeting, has given the board and staff the mandate to proceed with the $250m construction and funding of the project subject to negotiation of acceptable commercial terms.”

Crombie says stage two differs from what was originally planned, in scale and construction methodology.

“Originally we were going to build the scheme in three stages and continue the canal across the Canterbury Plains towards Sheffield. But we are now using a buried pipeline and will lay about 21km of 2.5m to 1.6m glass-reinforced polymer pipe linking to a further 184km of [plastic] pipes to take the water to farm gates. Fourteen pumping stations will also be built.”

Crombie says CPW will not take water from the Waimakariri River for stage two as originally planned because it can source water from Lake Coleridge.

“Very little extra capacity has been built into each pipeline, so it is imperative that those wanting to purchase further shares do so now, otherwise it could be too late. We cannot retrofit extra capacity.

“The other good news is that at all the three stages, mixed farming systems (dairy, sheep and beef, arable and some dairy support) will be the predominant land uses.”

The total CPW scheme (stages one and two and Sheffield) will cost $400m and cover 50,000ha.

“The scheme will provide significant environmental benefits by replacing current groundwater abstraction with very reliable river water sourced from the Rakaia and Lake Coleridge catchments. Stage one of the scheme has already replaced 75% of the groundwater abstraction in that area and the same is expected in the next stages,” Crombie says.

“Already we are starting to see benefits in the stage one area with bore levels remaining steady, even during drought.”

About 360 shareholders have paid $90 million towards the CPW scheme, supported by funding from the Ministry for Primary Industries irrigation acceleration fund, short term loans from the Selwyn District Council and construction funding from CPW’s banks ANZ and Westpac.