ORC argues against own Lindis decision

THE Otago Regional Council is arguing against its own decision on how water in the Lindis River catchment should be allocated for irrigation.

The council is the respondent in an Environment Court appeal brought by the Lindis Catchment Group (LCG), representing irrigators.

LCG is trying to overturn the council’s proposed plan change 5A (Lindis: integrated water management).

In his opening remarks at a hearing in Wanaka yesterday, ORC lawyer Alistair Logan supported an agreement the ORC had reached with LCG during mediation.

‘‘Superficially, changes in the ORC position may seem surprising, but they are evidencebased,’’ Mr Logan told the hearing.

He said the agreement with the LCG resulted in ‘‘more water in more of the river most of the time’’, ‘‘a better outcome’’ for fish and aquatic life, ‘‘a better outcome for the natural character of the river’’ and it ‘‘better provides for the economic and social wellbeing of the community than the decision’s version of the plan change’’.

A stretch of the Lindis River is known for drying up completely during part of the summer.

The hearing, before Judge Jon Jackson and two commissioners, is expected to run until the end of next week then resume for a few days in late January.

At stake is the amount of water that can be taken for irrigation by 34 permit holders.

Mr Logan told the hearing the ‘‘true contest’’ was between two scenarios.

One was to continue using water races with an allocation of, probably, 3248 litres per second with a minimum flow of 900 litres per second.

The other was to replace the races with new bores [referred to as galleries] with a primary allocation of 1639 litres per second and a minimum flow of 550 litres per second.

Mr Logan described limits sought by Otago Fish & Game — which is a party to the appeal and endeavouring to protect the river as a trout fishery — to be ‘‘fanciful and must be disregarded’’.

Fish & Game supports the limits in the ORC’s proposed plan change 5A — an allocation of 1200 litres per second, with a summer minimum flow of 900 litres per second.

Fish & Game lawyer Maree BakerGalloway told the hearing there were ‘‘fundamental points of disagreement’’ between the ORC and the LCG, despite continuing discussion.

She was ‘‘surprised and confounded’’ Fish & Game had been criticised for backing the ORC’s plan change proposal.

Towards the end of yesterday’s hearing, Judge Jackson raised concerns about how expert evidence could be handled.

He urged lawyers to look for ways to simplify the process.