Contact agrees to dredge sediment out of inlet as part of amenities work

CONTACT Energy is looking at dredging between 15,00030,000cu m of sediment out of the Bannockburn Inlet every five years.

The energy company said it took its consent conditions seriously and was conscious of the visual impact of the sediment for river users.

Last Friday, the Otago Regional Council confirmed it had come to an agreement with Contact Energy over the resource consent conditions around Contact Energy’s obligations covering public amenities work along its hydro schemes on the Clutha River.

The council said the recent consents review and subsequent new conditions provided a revised focus on Contact Energy managing public amenity values along the Kawarau Arm of Lake Dunstan — within its consents held around its Clyde hydro scheme.

In a statement yesterday, Contact Energy said it took its consent conditions seriously and would continue to work closely with mana whenua, key stakeholders, the local community and council on the best approach for the Bannockburn Inlet.

‘‘We’re pleased the process has meant we’ve come out with a viable, environmentally friendly and futureproofed solution,’’ the statement said.

‘‘In terms [of] sediment removal, this will occur every five years — as per our consent conditions — and the amount will depend on river activity and behaviour. Our early estimates show it could be between 15,000 and 30,000cu m of sediment.’’

Any works would happen between May and October, every five years. The number of days would be determined in discussions with the contractor at the time.

‘‘We are conscious of the visual and tangible impacts for lake users, and we have a landscape architect on board to assess this and provide recommendations.

The current proposal was to dredge the sediment from the Bannockburn Inlet and deposit it back into the Kawarau Arm — the source. The location would be close to the bank but given that the river’s profile changed a lot the specific area could not be exactly defined at this time.

Contact Energy said to give context, there was about 1.2 million cu m of sediment material coming down the Kawarau Arm each year, and a small proportion of this entered the Bannockburn Inlet — 15,00030,000cu m every five years.