The Alps to Ocean cycleway which will wind through North Otago and the Mackenzie Basin could eventually attract more than 40,000 visitors a year, a report says.
Network Waitaki spent about $6.7 million last financial year strengthening and future-proofing its electricity lines network in North Otago.
The Waitaki District and Otago Regional Councils want the New Zealand Transport Agency to organise a forum of community organisations to discuss solutions to the flooding which closes State Highway 1 north of Oamaru.
Waitaki is bucking the national trend in the cause of traffic crashes - but not in a good way.
Too many bunnies are hopping into Waitaki Valley towns and, once they start breeding this year, could cause a major problem by Christmas.
The fact more crime is being reported in the Waitaki district is being attributed to an increase in the community reporting incidents.
North Otago people have been urged to get involved in "a really exciting time" for water management in their area.
The performance of the Waitaki District Council is being gauged in a phone survey which started a week ago.
Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean's latest attempt to change Easter trading laws has been expanded in scope and, if successfully voted in by Parliament, will apply to towns and retailers across the whole of her electorate.
The Waitaki District Council wants to get tough this summer on freedom campers leaving human waste and litter around the district, but it does not quite know how.
The issue, common throughout New Zealand with campervans and caravans that do not have on-board toilets and tanks, came up at the council's corporate services committee meeting this week.
Five people who allegedly illegally dumped rubbish have been caught over the past month in a special campaign by the Waitaki District Council.
The one credit card owned by the Waitaki District Council has had $11,126.77 charged to it over the past two years.
Lower Waitaki Irrigation Company chairman Chris Dennison is encouraged by the interest shown in extending the delivery of water.
Work modifying the Otematata sewage-treatment plant to meet conditions in a new resource consent should start in September, and then be operating after February next year.
Every cloud has a silver lining: at least something positive has come out of flooding which hit North Otago after heavy rain at the end of May.
More local control over water in the lower Waitaki catchment is being welcomed by the Waitaki District Council, but it has some worries about how that will be managed.
The Waitaki District Council has only one credit card and "it lives in the council safe", chief executive Michael Ross says.
A new and innovative way to manage water in the lower Waitaki catchment and Waimate district could be in operation by the end of the year under the Canterbury water management strategy.
Businesses in the Waitaki district have been called to a workshop to discuss how they can benefit from an influx of more than 80,000 visitors to New Zealand for next year's Rugby World Cup.
Proponents of the 314km-long Alps to Ocean cycle trail through the Mackenzie Basin and North Otago are now waiting for a decision at the end of this month on whether they will get the $2.75 million they need to plan and build it.
