Some of the movers and shakers behind a variety of irrigation schemes in Canterbury and Otago are set to air their concerns to a delegation of Ministers of the Crown reports Rural News. While those attending the December 20 seminar in Christchurch are yet to be confirmed, Minister of Agriculture David Carter is inviting who he sees as the relevant Ministers, including the Minister of Infrastructure Bill English. He also hopes to have representatives from "˜15 to 20' schemes. "˜Part of the plan is to get my fellow Ministers up in the air so they can get a better idea visually,' Carter says. "˜A number of the schemes are in various stages of development. I want the guys behind them to tell us about their schemes and what impediments they have come up against. "˜Then we can start to look at what sort of assistance we may be able to give. "˜At some point we're still going to have the debate about water allocation but first let's have a look to see if there are any easy ways to increase availability.' Part of the seminar will showcase the Opua irrigation scheme in South Canterbury, which has been going for 10 years. "˜It's been an outstanding success. It's achieved everything. The river flow has actually improved. There's a recreational lake and there's even a component of electricity generation. Carter says the Ministerial Briefing Papers he received from MAF on becoming Minister of Agriculture highlight the importance of water availability and storage. They state that water management by the primary sector, both in terms of quantity and quality, is imperative and an urgent priority. The papers note that groundwater has generally reached or is quickly reaching allocation limits in most parts of the country. "˜Further irrigation development, particularly on the eastern side of New Zealand as climate change impacts, will require water storage and distribution systems to deal with fluctuating water availability. Only about 4% of all the freshwater that flows toward the sea is extracted. In Canterbury, where most irrigation occurs, just 1% of allocated water comes from storage infrastructure. .
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