Farmers, the people most affected by proposed rural water quality regulations, had the last word as the public hearing on the changes ended in Dunedin yesterday.
It was critically important the panel got the balance right between farmers' lives and maintaining and improving water quality, Federated Farmers South Island regional policy manager Matt Harcombe said.
"Most importantly, it is about the social and economic fabric of our rural heartlands: Balclutha, Ranfurly, Alexandra, Oamaru and Roxburgh. What you decide over the coming weeks will influence the future of every person in those places, not just the farms and families they support," he said.
Federated Farmers was the last organisation to submit to the panel, which has sat for 22 days around the region, hearing from more than 250 people.
Panel chairman Duncan Butcher in closing said Federated Farmers and farmers throughout the region had put considerable effort into submitting on the proposed changes.
"The panel members know a hell of a lot more about Otago's hinterland and various industries in Otago as well as about sediment and erosion."
Overall, the hearing had been a good process, but the "hard part for us is now in the decision-making", he said.
"We have heaps of suggestions in front of us to make a decision."
The panel adjourned yesterday to start the decision-making process. Cr Butcher hoped for an outcome by Christmas.
However, some suggestions, such as one by Federated Farmers, that the panel consider coming back with an interim decision so submitters could be further consulted, could delay that if taken up, he said.
Among Federated Farmers' suggestions to make the proposed changes more workable for farmers was the introduction of a 12-month sampling window to provide for a more accurate picture of why a farm was not complying with discharge limits.
Federated Farmers environmental consultant Tom Heller recommended removing the nitrogen limit for the rest of the region except for the sensitive groundwater zones, which he believed would be better suited to an effects-based groundwater nitrogen concentration approach.
He suggested turning around the plan change so that there was only a need for land-use controls when the "environment called for it" and using a catchment-based approach in "hot spots" to get a reduction in nutrient discharges.
"More resources need to go into managing those areas," Mr Heller said.
Day 22
Where: Dunedin
Panel: Regional councillors Duncan Butcher (chairman), David Shepherd and independent Clive Geddes.
Proposal: Changes to Otago's water regulations to prevent run-off in rural areas polluting the region's waterways.
Submitters: Federated Farmers environmental consultant Tom Heller and South Island regional policy manager Matt Harcombe.
Quote of day: "I thank you for listening to our submission and that of the farmers whose businesses, families, stock and futures are at stake." - Federated Farmers South Island regional policy manager Matt Harcombe
