The Maniototo Irrigation Company (MIC) could act as a model for a larger organisation managing water users from the Strath Taieri and Maniototo districts.
The idea was mooted at an open day for water users held at MIC chairman Geoff Crutchley's Puketoi Station in the Maniototo yesterday.
About 20 people, including representatives from the Fish and Game Council and Department of Conservation, attended the open day to learn about MIC and how it operated.
Mr Crutchley said the company ran an economical scheme for irrigation compared to other schemes seen recently.
‘‘It could be a useful potential model for a catchment management group because within it there can still be individual groups or systems, while having the security and consistency of an overarching body,'' he said.
The company, which catered for more than 60 users, had a maximum annual water take of about 70 million cubic metres for an area of about 9300ha.
The open day was part of a larger initiative that started two years ago to generate a more community-based water-users scheme to counter rising electricity costs and forecast water restrictions.
Project co-ordinator Gretchen Robertson, of the NZ Landcare Trust, said it was the second of four open days in the Strath Taieri and Maniototo Plains.
Mrs Robertson said that at present most farmers and rural land owners in those areas used water according to their individual mining rights, which allowed them the least amount of restrictions for water allocation and distribution available in New Zealand.
‘‘Those rights expire in 2021. We need to get together as a community and figure out how to work together to ensure people can farm in the future,' she said.
