A dozen people have put their names forward for the Lower Waitaki-South Coastal Canterbury zone committee being set up to manage freshwater resources in the lower Waitaki River and Waimate district by Environment Canterbury.
The 12 applicants will soon be invited to attend assessment workshops in early September, before the committee is confirmed by Environment Canterbury and district councils later that month.
The zone committee is a new way to manage water resources and is one of 10 being set up throughout the Canterbury region.
Another is proposed for the upper Waitaki catchment in the Waitaki and Mackenzie districts, for which nominations will be called later this year.
Environment Canterbury commissioner Peter Skelton will be a member of the Lower Waitaki-South Coastal committee, along with Cr Alistair Mavor from the Waitaki District Council, Cr Jim Anderson from the Waimate District Council, and local runanga representation.
Canterbury water management strategy zone facilitator Barbara Nicholas said four to six of the 12 community applicants were likely to be appointed to the new zone committee.
The committee members will work collaboratively and with the community to develop solutions to water issues that give effect to the principles and targets of the strategy.
It will cover the part of North Otago in the Canterbury region, the boundary following the Maerewhenua River and the south bank of the Waitaki River to the coast.
It goes as far west as the Waitaki dam and north to the Pareora River.
