Concern for irrigation funding

FISH and Game is concerned funds will be prematurely cut off for one of the ‘‘defining moments in Otago’s water management’’.

Otago Fish and Game council environment officer Nigel Paragreen spoke at the Otago Regional Council’s longterm plan hearings in Dunedin on Thursday.

In the plan the council is looking to spend $1,464,084 on transitioning irrigators to new water take permits after historical 100yearold privileges expire in 2021.

The funds decrease year on year and end after the 202021 financial year.

Mr Paragreen said Fish and Game thought this was the reverse of what should happen.

‘‘There’s a very real risk the majority of applications will be submitted right up to the deadline. We have seen very few applications through and the ones we are seeing are very simple ones.’’

Fish and Game was budgeting for an ‘‘exponential growth’’ in applications, he said.

As a result, it was likely many would be put on hold due to staff and funding restraints, and need to be processed after the 2021 deadline.

‘‘What we’re asking the ORC to do is provide more funding, and past 2021 to get this work through properly.’’

It would be a big problem for the area if funding for the project dried up, he said.

The organisation’s submission said the process was one of the ‘‘defining moments in Otago’s water management’’.