Water still big issue for new council

The council is returning to democratically elected governance after six years under Government-appointed commissioners.

The new model is still partially appointed: the seven recently elected councilors will be joined by up to six commissioners yet to be appointed by the Government.

The newly elected representatives are Rod Cullinane, Steve Lowndes, Lan Pham and Cynthia Roberts for the Christchurch constituency, John Sunckell for Mid-Canterbury, Claire McKay for North Canterbury, and Peter Scott for South Canterbury.

It’s a line-up stacked with experience in water use, irrigation, farming and waterway ecology. Several have already served on their respective water zone committees.

Rod Cullinane, the general manager of North Canterbury Fish and Game, says his priorities may depend on the final make-up of the council.

“Certainly of the elected ones whom I know, primarily the Christchurch city candidates, they are all focussed on water being the number one issue.”

He identifies some immediate issues such as compliance and lack of enforcement, citing an incident this week when Fish and Game staff found cattle standing in the Otukaikino Stream.

“I understand there are only four people in the compliance team actually out and about in the field. If that’s correct I’ll be asking why such minimal resources are allocated to compliance.”

Steve Lowndes, who has chaired the Banks Peninsula zone committee, says water management will be his most important role as councilor. However, the process is not about taking sides but “everyone sitting down and talking”.

He says the cumulative effect of all the groundwater consents granted over the past 20 years was never taken into account and has led to over-extraction in certain zones.

“We’ve got to put the brakes on somewhere, somehow. I know the farming community is doing everything it can. At the same time, I have to declare a personal opinion -- overly intensive dairying is not suitable on the plains.”

Lowndes is calling for efficient irrigation, switching from using the aquifers to using surface water irrigation sourced from the mountain-fed rivers. With climate change forecast to bring more westerly weather and more rain to the West Coast -- 17% more by one estimate -- some of that gets into the headwaters of the braided rivers, he says.

“This is the insurance for the future -- to capture that water in flood, to store it and distribute it. That seems perfectly logical to me.”

Ecologist Dr Cynthia Roberts also says clean water is a top priority but she is keen not to promote a rural-city divide. “We’re all both beneficiaries and culprits in what’s been happening.”

Along with Lowndes and Roberts, freshwater ecologist Lan Pham was elected to the Christchurch constituency on the People’s Choice ticket, whose election policy document started with “clean water and swimmable rivers” and included encouragement of sustainable farming practices.

Pham says her priority is “the health of our people and our planet,” setting clear policy and “moving ECan in any direction we can to achieve true long-term sustainability”.

Pham says talk of a city-rural split is false and unhelpful.

“I know that as individuals we all want the same things -- a healthy environment and prosperous communities. We want it all and we can have it.”

Asked whether dairying has been the culprit in Canterbury’s water woes, Leeston dairy farmer John Sunckell says there is “some truth in it, I’ll be honest”.

“I recognise some of the damage that has been done but I don’t recognise that it has all been dairy in the past 15-20 years. But we are now starting to turn things around.”

Sunckell says that having spent six years on his local zone committee working under the Canterbury water management strategy, he knew people now well understand the issues.

Echoing Lowndes’ support for river-fed irrigation, Sunckell sees the Central Plains Water scheme as a way forward. With Stage I of the CPW scheme replacing 80 million cubic metres (75%) of groundwater draw in the scheme’s coverage area, the wells in his Selwyn-Waihora Zone had maintained their levels despite the drought.

“We are just starting to see things coming through that are going to be of real benefit to the environment and our turnaround.”

Claire McKay, a Cust farmer and veterinarian, says her priority is to build on the relationships established by the previous commissioners, and to get trust and respect going between the stakeholders, people who are interested in freshwater issues and the wider community.

McKay says the perception of a town and rural divide over water issues was one reason she became involved in the Canterbury water management strategy six years ago.

“I would like to see a united Canterbury and an appreciation that we need each other,” she says.

Peter Scott, an arable farmer from Kerrytown, near Pleasant Point, is another with a strong water management background, having been the chief executive of the Opuha Water scheme from 2007 to 2011.

Scott says water is topical, but ECan does more than manage water. He intends to bring to the table a strong advocacy for his South Canterbury constituency.

“We just need to keep supporting the processes we have in place. I am 100% confident that the processes we have in place will give us the outcomes we need.”

Scott is confident the mixed model of elected and appointed members on the council is working “really well.”

A spokesperson for Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith says that up to six commissioners will be appointed, with three to be appointed within 28 days of the official election result, due on October 13. The chair will be elected by council vote.