Hurunui River moratorium supported

Federated Farmers is supportive of Environment Canterbury’s (ECan) decision to place a moratorium on water take consent applications for the Hurunui River.

“Federated Farmers believes the moratorium will help implementation of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy (CWMS) as well as enabling the Hurunui Zone Committee to become fully involved,” says Michael Morrow, Federated Farmers Mid-Canterbury provincial president.

“This is about a collaborative way forward for Fish & Game NZ and Whitewater NZ’s Water Conservation Order application and the Hurunui Water Project’s current consent application.

“The Government's special ECan legislation also changed the way Water Conservation Orders are dealt with in our province so the moratorium makes complete sense.

“The moratorium means that applications will eventually be heard by Environment Canterbury’s Commissioners and be informed by the CWMS as well as Part II of the Resource Management Act.

“Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, ECan has rightly sought the moratorium to prioritise what’s strategically important and that’s the CWMS.

“For Federated Farmers, it’s vital that existing consents are unaffected by this moratorium and that moratoriums do not become order of the day for other catchments.

“In saying that we will be watching very closely to ensure the environmental and economic balance is appropriate,” Mr Morrow concluded.