The North Otago public hearings on proposed changes to water quality rules in Otago ended yesterday with a call for best management practices to be given more weight.
At the end of a week of hearings in Oamaru on proposed changes to the Otago Regional Council (ORC) Water Quality Plan 6A, Irrigation New Zealand (INZ) chief executive Andrew Curtis said although he supported the effects-based approach, there was an "urgent need" for further engagement with localised communities.
About 20% of all irrigation in New Zealand took place in Otago, which accounted for 0.4% of the country's gross national product, and INZ found it "totally unacceptable" that there was no sub-regional scale cost-benefit analysis in either the notified plan change, or the accompanying officers report, Mr Curtis said.
"Implementing a robust water quality monitoring regime is complex and costly. It is not something that can be done on the back of an envelope, adopting a random as-and-when approach," he saidThe council plan change represented a "wild stab in the dark", he said.
"A better effects-based approach would be to adopt a good management practice - audited self-management framework, linked to catchment specific targets."
The plan change had proposed that if a landowner could not comply with a suggested 30kg a nitrogen, per ha of land, per year leaching limit, (10kg in specified sensitive zones) then a restricted discretionary consent would have to be applied for, but Mr Curtis objected to that pathway.
The inclusion of a specific policy that would allow land owners to choose to either opt into a good management practice - audited self-management programmes, or a resource consent path - would be a better alternative, he said.
Independent hearing commissioner Clive Geddes said most of Otago already met water quality standards, and added that the plan change already proposed to allow landowners to find their own solutions to water quality problems.
"It is the assumption of the plan change that if there is no impact then there is no cost.
"What the plan change is saying is what you do on your own land and who you do it with is your own business," he said.
Hearings continue in Dunedin on Monday.
Day 15
Where: Oamaru
Panel: Councillors Duncan Butcher (chairman), David Shepherd and independent member Clive Geddes
Proposal: Changes to Otago's water regulations to prevent run-off in rural areas polluting the region's waterways.
Submitters: Irrigation New Zealand Incorporated
Quote of day: "You're not actually supposed to ask me a question. But I would be very happy for you to provide me with an explanation." Hearing commissioner Clive Geddes.
