The Government's decision to replace the Environment Canterbury (ECan) council with commissioners in an attempt to sort out water management problems has been described by opposition MPs as an outrage to democracy and the equivalent of a bloodless coup.
Environment Canterbury plans two valedictory meetings before the 14 councillors lose their jobs by the end of this month.
A new way of managing water in the lower Waitaki catchment and Waimate district, giving more control to the local community, could be operating this year under a radical approach being implemented through Environment Canterbury (ECan).
"Best bang for the buck" to improve environmental performance was one of the parameters behind changes proposed for the Otematata sewage treatment scheme by the Waitaki District Council.
A marathon resource consent hearing spanning seven months to determine which of 110 applications will get water, mostly for irrigation, from the upper Waitaki catchment is nearing an end.
Source consents for the Kurow and Otematata sewage treatment plants will come under Environment Canterbury scrutiny at an Oamaru hearing this week.
Waitaki First has been there before when it comes to government intervention in Environment Canterbury's management of water.
The increasingly erratic and somewhat flaky behaviour of Act New Zealand and the Maori Party should be giving the Prime Minister some serious cause for worry.
Environment Canterbury chief executive Bryan Jenkins wants to keep his job after the Government on Tuesday sacked the 14-member elected council he is responsible to.
"Good on the Government for having the guts to come out and do something like this."
The decision to dump Environment Canterbury, announced yesterday by Minister for the Environment Nick Smith and Minister for Local Government Rodney Hide, followed a damning report prepared by a Government-appointed review team headed by former deputy prime minister Wyatt Creech.
Former Environment Canterbury councillor June Slee said yesterday she was delighted by the announcement ECan had been sacked.
Comparisons between the actions of Fiji's Frank Bainimarama "to solve Fiji's" intractable problems and that of the present New Zealand Government to deal with the "institutional failure" of the Canterbury Regional Council (ECan) are inevitable.
Environment Canterbury's water management was so bad that immediate government intervention was necessary, Parliament was told tonight.
Dairy farms are still top of the agenda for three companies who want to develop them in the Omarama and Ohau areas - if they can get water approved.
A public rally has been called in Christchurch to tell the Government management of Canterbury's water must remain in local hands.
Environment Canterbury (ECan) has had a chance to put its case to retain its elected regional council to the Minister for the Environment Nick Smith and the Minister for Local Government Rodney Hide.
The Government is unlikely to fully implement a report which recommends sacking the elected Environment Canterbury regional council, replacing it with commissioners and splitting water management from the other functions of the regional council.
Timaru still wants water from the Waitaki River as part of a new irrigation scheme costing up to $200 million and irrigating up to 40,000ha.
Waitaki First is taking a cautious approach to possible alternatives to 16 new dairy farms in the Omarama and Ohau areas being proposed by three companies.
