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Te Waihora /Ellesmere Catchment Regional Water Plan An Introduction for the Selwyn/ Waihora Water Management Zone Committee Lynda Weastell Murchison Principal Planning & Consents Advisor 06 April 2011. Contents. Introduction to catchment & issues Why a regional water plan?
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Te Waihora/Ellesmere Catchment Regional Water Plan An Introduction for the Selwyn/Waihora Water Management Zone Committee Lynda Weastell Murchison Principal Planning & Consents Advisor 06 April 2011
Contents • Introduction to catchment & issues • Why a regional water plan? • What will be covered in the plan? • How will the plan affect other activities? • Role of Zone Committee • Timeframe
CatchmentCharacteristics cont… • Mix of ephemeral, braided and springfed waterways. • Ground and surface water very strongly linked, hills & plains • Influence of Rakaia and Waimakairi rivers. • Localised rainfall recharge (except Rakaia/Waimakariri sub-areas) • Variable mean annual rainfall: 560mm at coast to 1300-1600mm foothills. • Estimated 346.3million m3/yr of groundwater - currently managed two allocation zones: • Rakaia-Selwyn (215 million m3/yr) • Selwyn-Waimakariri (131.9 million m3/yr).
CatchmentCharacteristicscontcont… • Land area 503 546ha (227 546ha plains & 276 000ha foothills) • Foothills nw, impermeable rock strata – water resource is surface water. • Plains 600m thick gravel aprons - water resource is ground water with surface gains & losses. Some surface run-off in high rainfall events. • Banks Peninsula, impermeable rock – water resource is surface water. • Land uses dominantly agricultural – water demand is irrigation & stock/domestic water • Small settlements: community/town water supplies & some industrial supply
CatchmentIssues… • Dry summer conditions and regular droughts limit potential agricultural productivity • Demand for water for irrigation increased substantially in last 20 years (5-fold increase in resource consents issued since 1985) • Demand for irrigation water continues, not all land areas have access to gw or reliable sw, and amount of gw allocated exceeds allocation limits. • Both anecdotal and recorded evidence of changes in fw bodies, including: • Increased extent and frequency of drying reaches in ephemeral streams; • Increased low flow periods in springfed streams; • Reduced water quality in some water bodies; and • Loss of reliability in some shallow wells.
Why do we need a Catchment Water Plan? • NRRP • Provides for a catchment-specific approach (Var 10 for min flows for some of the Te Waihora/Ellesmere catchment). • Has region-wide provisions apply in the absence of specific catchment rules. • Region-wide provisions not suited to all catchments – eg, split management of groundwater & surface water. • New challenges to water management in some areas, eg need to allocate water to activities or areas. • Building a planning framework using region-wide provisions where a consistent approach is appropriate and catchment-specific ones, where required. • Fits CWMS model.
How the Plan Manages WaterKey Points • Water is one resource: - Plains; all as groundwater - Hills; all as surface water • Focus: • Catchment down to the lake - inputs into the lake • Quantity, quality & land uses • Simplify & rationalise – use of key/indicator water bodies • Setting flows & quality stds • Monitoring sites • Manage relative to functions & values
Timeframe • Annual Plan Measures • Stage 1 – approved for notification July 2011 • Stage 2 – approved for notification July 2012 Stage 1 – Timeframe pre 22/02/11 (to be revised) • Preliminary technical investigations - January 2011 • Peer review & follow up - Feb 2011 • Report to Zone Committee - March 2011 • Community consultation April-May 2011 • Draft plan presented to ZC – June 2011 • Draft plan approved for notification by Regional Council July 2011
