Waiology, a NIWA-managed blog about NZ’s freshwaters (here) has posted an item on collaborative water management in north Canterbury.
It notes that in July this year the Hurunui-Waiau Zone Committee will notch up three years of work.
It was set up as part of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy – a collaborative process for finding local solutions to water issues within an environmentally sustainable framework.
The post by David Eder (chair of the committee) and Ian Whitehouse (Environment Canterbury facilitator for the committee) reviews the committee’s work and decisions.
The next challenge for the zone committee is to increase the understanding between rural and urban audiences and dispel some of the myths that nothing has changed and farmers are destroying the land. People need to take some time to learn what is going on and begin to understand and appreciate the progress that is being made. The recommendations in the ZIP include setting flow and allocation regimes for the rivers and their tributaries.
Nutrient load limits also need to be set for North Canterbury’s rivers and tributaries and landowners need to improve nutrient management practices to make new irrigation developments feasible.
AgScience 