Steeghs Partnership has been successful in gaining a resource consent to take up to 3600 cubic metres of water per day from the bores that feed the Gore water supply.
The farming partnership lodged the application with Environment Southland to take additional water from the Knapdale groundwater zone.
Peter Steeghs told The Ensign in May that the partnership already had one consent allowing the irrigation of about 80ha of their 335ha (effective) property, but in dry years they needed to irrigate more and that was what had prompted the application.
Yesterday, Mr Steeghs said he was pleased with Environment Southland's decision, but did not want to say too much until he found out if the decision had been appealed.
He believed the consent process used by ES was fair and the hearing committee took all aspects into consideration when making its determination.
The principal issues and statutory considerations investigated by the hearing committee were:
- Compliance with the Mataura River Conservation Order.
- Effects on the Gore township water supply and future applications. - Sustainability of the aquifer. - The equity and efficiency of water use and allocation. - The degree of certainty about effects. - The appropriate level for a flow-related cut-off.
Gore District Council had submitted against the proposal. In all, the application attracted 15 submissions.
Gore District Council general manager district assets Paul Withers said, at the hearing, water restrictions were imposed on Gore residents during periods of low river flow. The council's LTCCP proposed joining the Gore and Mataura water
supply networks, partly because of issues with the quality of the current raw water supply for Mataura.
The council had identified groundwater as the only potential alternative supply.
At the hearing Mr Withers said the partnership's water take would reduce the ability of the council to increase its water take in the future.
Council planning consultant Keith Hovell yesterday said the council would be investigating the detail of the conditions placed on the consent during the next two weeks.
The findings of that investigation would be presented to councillors on July 21 at its next council meeting where a decision whether an appeal would be lodged would be made, Mr Hovell said.
‘‘The main thing is the potential impact on the Gore municipal water supply,'' Mr Hovell said.
Gore District Council's plans to extend the supply by an additional 2000 cubic metres per day were a relevant consideration.
Mr Hovell said the approving of the partnership's application might mean that when the council applied for extended volumes of water the conditions would be far more stringent than they otherwise might have been.
