Reflecting on time in the top job
After years of helping the community come up with solutions to the Timaru District’s water issues, the chairman of the region’s water zone committee is bowing out, saying it is time for a change.
Pleasant Point man John Talbot, chairman of the OrariTemuka-Opihi-Pareora water zone committee for the past three years, grew up in a farming family.
However with a long involvement in Forest and Bird, he has been well-placed to see South Canterbury’s water issues from both an economic and environmental perspective.
Since he started sitting as chairman, his main focus had ‘‘certainly’’ been on the healthy catchments project, Talbot said.
The project is due to come to fruition next year, with the presentation of a set of recommendations for the region being presented to ECan.
Talbot, who has been involved in OTOP since it was first set up, will remain on the committee until then.
‘‘The most challenging thing is finding ways of improving the condition of our waterways while ensuring that the economy can keep providing wealth for us,’’ he said.
‘‘A lot of our local production is based on water, all sorts of farming.’’
The community wanted swimmable rivers, but it was a matter of balancing that with economic needs, he said.
Despite the topic being controversial, at the community workshops there had been good involvement by the participants.
‘‘There was good feedback, and a good atmosphere,’’ Talbot said.
ECan South Canterbury councillor Peter Scott said Talbot had done a ‘‘really, really good job’’ as chairman and he would be missed.
‘‘He doesn’t make too many judgements, which is great.’’
In response to Federated Farmers president Mark Adams saying earlier this year farmers were still being judged on their behaviour from 10 years ago, Talbot said the picture was ‘‘a bit richer than that’’.
‘‘I know that conservation people have worked closely with farming people on all sorts of projects.
‘‘I understand a lot of farmers have done great work,’’ he sid.
However it was a matter of overcoming the effects of wider land change bit by bit, Talbot said.
There were still examples of practices going on which clearly had negative effects on the area’s waterways.
Habitats were still being affected by the clearing of land, such as areas where bats and lizards lived, he said.
‘‘They are some of the last bits of nature that we’ve got in our landscape.
‘‘Another example would be there’s extended areas now of winter feeding. So you see there’s often a lot of pugging of soils and that runs a high risk of sediment and nutrient runoff.
‘‘That’s potentially damaging freshwater habitats,’’ he said.
Talbot said there had been some good solutions proposed by the public about the region’s water issues, including the adaptive management working group which is proposing the flow regime for the Opihi River and the Opuha Dam.
A good mix of viewpoints had been brought to the table