The lights will go out in Tarras if the Otago Regional Council puts tough new restrictions on water takes from the Lindis River, Bendigo Station farmer John Perriam says.
Mr Perriam was one of six executive members of the Tarras Water Users Catchment Group to speak to the regional council meeting's public forum yesterday, emphasising their livelihoods were at risk if tough minimum flow restrictions were put in place.
The group was appealing for the council to take into consideration the social and economic costs of any move to restrict the amount of water the farmers could take for irrigation from the Lindis River.
The council is proposing to set a minimum flow for the river and had proposed a summer limit of 450 litres per second and winter limit of 750 litres per second prior to Tarras Water Ltd's proposed irrigation scheme failing.
It had been consulting the Tarras community, iwi and Fish and Game about issues around setting a minimum flow and new proposed limits would be announced in the next month.
The Tarras group was alarmed by the possibility the regional council was considering limits higher than 450 litres per second.
Farmer Robbie Gibson said irrigation from the Lindis River was the lifeblood of the Tarras community.
''Without it we wouldn't exist.''
Matt McCaughan, of Geordie Hills, said he was very concerned about the potential impact a minimum flow would have on his family farm where they had used irrigation since 1911 to provide winter feed for their stock.
''It could threaten the viability of the farm and hamper it for the next generation.''
Jane Rive, of Cloudy Peak, said they had invested in expensive pivot and K-line irrigation systems based on the 450-litres-per-second proposal but were worried reliability of water would be much less than they had originally believed.
''For us investment in a high-cost system with highly unreliable water could be a massive mistake. Higher minimum flows will have a devastating effect on our family farm.''
Farmer Alastair Rutherford said farmers needed to know what the minimum flow was going to be as it affected investment plans.
''We can't stop and wait.''
The area's farmers could live with the 450-litres-per-second limit with some adjustments, he said.
Farmer Tim Davis said the council needed to be wary the mean annual low flow did not necessarily provide an accurate picture of seasonal variations in water supply.
A consultant's investigations showed that in an average year such as 2008-09 based on a 450-litres-per-second scenario, farmers would face 46 days of restricted takes and 80% reliability but in a dry year such as 2005-06 they would face four months of restrictions and only 23% reliability, he said.
Storage was not an option as there were no natural spots to store water.
Mr Perriam said the group and community were willing to work with the council to come up with the best result for all.
Council policy planning and resource management director Fraser McRae said from further investigations since the irrigation scheme failed, the council had a better understanding of issues such as how much the river leaked, how much water came into the river, in-stream wellbeing and the demand from and impact on farmers and irrigators.
The council would continue to work with and talk to the community about any minimum flow proposal.
Chairman Stephen Woodhead said councillors would be discussing minimum flow issues at a non-public workshop today.
Irrigation in the Lindis
• 56 irrigators.
• 30 irrigators are shareholders in Lindis Irrigation Company.
• About 30 own vineyards, orchards or small blocks.
• Irrigation needed to grow crops and winter feed.
Minimum Flow proposal for the Lindis catchment
• Stretches of the Lindis River, up to 10km, can dry up during summer.
• Aims to reduce and prevent further over-allocation and safeguard the life-supporting capacity of freshwater bodies.
• Required by the National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management.
• Sets a management regime for surface water and connected groundwater.
• Sets maximum allocation volumes for specified aquifers within the Bendigo-Tarras Basin.
• Maps the minimum flow catchment boundaries.
