Course A

The thirst for water in Canterbury

Course organiser:Tim de Castro and Ross Heveldt

Presenter:Various

In this course experts will describe the large projects for water management in Canterbury.

20 Aug:
Hon. David Caygill, on “ The Canterbury Water Management strategy:David is Deputy Chair of Environment Canterbury with special responsibility for the water portfolio. He will describe the CWM, the engagement with all stakeholders, and give an overview of the Land and Water Regional Plan, and other initiatives.

27 Aug:
Colin Dixon, on “The massive Rangitata South Irrigation scheme: Colin is General manager of Rooney Group Ltd, Timaru, who funded and constructed this $115 million scheme, which takes water from the Rangitata river and stores it in 300 ha of ponds located on SH72 immediately south of the Rangitata river bridge. From there water is supplied via a network of canals to farms downstream to SH1 and beyond. Colin will describe the challenges overcome during construction.

3 Sep:
Nicky Hyslop, on “The national industry organisation promoting excellence in Irrigation: Chair of Irrigation NZ, Nicky is also a farm management consultant. With husband Jonty, she runs an irrigated farm at Levels. A director of Opuha Water Partnership, which operates the Opuha dam, she will give us her take on the national prospects for Irrigation and her experiences dealing with issues which arose in the Opuha scheme during 2014/15.

10 Sep:
Derek Crombie, on “The huge Central Plains irrigation scheme: As CEO of Central Plains Water Ltd., Derek will describe the development of the CPW scheme which will take water from the Waimakariri and Rakaia rivers and supply it to farms in the upper plains via a series of very large canals and pipes. Stage 1 is now complete.

17 Sep:
Ian MacKenzie, on “The Importance of water for sustainable, environmentally acceptable agriculture: “Ian was NZ Federated Farmers National spokesman for Water & environment. He will give us his view on the proposed National Policy Statement for fresh water management and explain how communities will have the power to set out their aspirations for water. Ian operates an irrigated vegetable/seeds and finishing farm in mid-Canterbury.