The Waitaki District Council is working to improve wastewater treatment in settlements, completing three projects recently and investigating others, despite the significant financial impact on ratepayers.
The first lowland reserve in the Waitaki Valley with rare and endangered plants and spectacular fossils has been established, the Nature Heritage Fund having bought 20ha for the reserve for $200,000 from Duntroon farmers David and Lorraine Parker.
The oldest power station on the Waitaki River is to get a $40 million makeover which will boost its potential generation.
The late arrival of the star of Waitangi Day celebrations in Oamaru - HMNZS Otago - did nothing to shorten the queue waiting to take a public tour of the patrol vessel.
''One of the best shows for decades,'' was how North Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association president Bryce Burnett described the two-day event held on Friday and Saturday.
The construction of two bridges across the Waitaki River linking Hakataramea and Kurow will have a traditional start next month.
The Waitaki Resource Recovery Trust is determined to turn around a loss in its operations, at the same time reducing its reliance on money from the Waitaki District Council.
Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae and his entourage, accompanied by Waitaki Boys' High School rector Paul Jackson, staff and prefects, were confronted by a mass haka of the school's more than 500 pupils yesterday outside the Hall of Memories.
The designation of land on Cape Wanbrow earmarked for a controversial residential development has finally been clarified by an Act of Parliament, but the Waitaki District Council will ''start with a clean slate'' deciding what to do with it.
Heritage advocate Graeme Clark on top of the Brydone Monument at Totara, south of Oamaru, after he had just replaced the rope on the flagpole of the structure erected to commemorate the first shipment of frozen meat from New Zealand.
Waimate's heritage park Bushtown had official recognition yesterday, when Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae officially opened its latest attraction.
Waitaki Boys' High School is returning to its roots with a major investment to boost its agricultural courses.
Motorists on State Highway 1 south of Oamaru were intrigued by the sight of a huge, rusted tank being hoisted high so one end could be buried in an Alma farm paddock last week.
The trial of a new service that will give rural people, particularly in isolated areas, greater and easier access to counselling is to be conducted in North Otago.
Another repayment has been made to the Waitaki District Council for a $10 million loan it made in 2006 to help build the North Otago Irrigation Company's scheme.
The Old Slip Rd between Hakataramea and the Aviemore dam may be used again as a spectacular section of the Alps 2 Ocean trail. It is believed the road, on the north side of the Waitaki River and Lake Waitaki, has not been used since the Waitaki dam was constructed between 1928 and 1934. Most of it remains, although a part is cut by a spectacular slip.
After about two decades, a solution may finally have been found for sewage and wastewater disposal problems at Hampden.
After decades of waiting, Waitaki Valley residents will finally see concrete evidence from early next month of two new bridges being built to cross the Waitaki River between Kurow and Hakataramea on State Highway 82.
So impressive is Ian Gillespie's one-off camper van that people ask the Chevrolet fan if it is the genuine article.
You could call it a house divided - on one side Mum and Dad supporting the Highlanders and on the other their two sons, who are Crusaders supporters.
