Conflicting views on a proposal to alter water allocation and the minimum flow in the Waitaki River did not stop the Waitaki District Council from deciding to support the changes.
The council was caught unawares at its meeting last week when the Lower Waitaki River Management Society made a presentation calling into question the effects of a change proposed by Environment Canterbury (ECan) to the Waitaki catchment water allocation regional plan.
The society, formed during the debate over Project Aqua and when the original allocation plan was prepared by a Government-appointed board in 2005, opposes the change.
Known as plan change 3, it was advertised for public submissions in June, closing on August 22.
ECan and irrigation representatives maintain the changes will benefit all sectors.
However, three representatives from the society - Dugald MacTavish, Linn Koevoet and John Macdonald - gave an opposing view.
They described it as ''a short-sighted and misguided idea''.
The 2005 plan provided for a minimum flow of 150cumecs, but resource consents approved before the plan was prepared have minimum flows, when water cannot be taken, ranging from none to 130cumecs.
The plan change would bring them all up to 102cumecs, or the flow specified on the existing consent, whichever was higher.
The plan change also sets aside water for projects such as restoring flows of the Wainono Lagoon (east of Waimate) to enhance mahinga kai (traditional food sources) using water delivered through irrigation schemes.
The conflicting interpretations of the effects of the change left some councillors in a quandary, particularly those elected for the first time last year, who had not been involved in the issue.
Cr Melanie Tavendale said she would not be comfortable voting on a submission which supported the change without have more time to consider the opposing views.
So the council put the decision aside and, after completing other agenda items, went into a workshop session so it could more freely discuss the plan.
Proponents for the plan change - ECan commissioner Peter Skelton, Geoff Keeling and Matt Ross - answered the issues raised.
The council then reconvened its meeting and approved its submission, which fully supported the change and asked for it to be adopted without amendment.
