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Waitaki Catchment

The Waitaki Catchment, predominantly in the South Island's Canterbury region, is important for renewable energy and irrigation, and for its natural, recreational, community and fishery values. It is also significant as a strategic national asset, and to Ngai Tahu as a defining feature of who they are as a people and as individuals.

Many people, companies and organisations want to use water from the Waitaki River.

In September 2004, Parliament passed The Resource Management (Waitaki Catchment) Amendment Act to create an improved decision-making process for allocating water from the Waitaki Catchment. That Act set up an independent Board to develop and approve a regional plan to guide water allocation in the Waitaki Catchment.

At its meeting on 30 September, 2005, the Waitaki Catchment Water Allocation Board approved the Waitaki Catchment Water Allocation Regional Plan. (This document now incorporates amendments made to the Plan by the High Court following an appeal on points of law that was lodged jointly by Mackenzie Irrigation Co Ltd and Meridian Energy Ltd).

The six replacement pages containing the High Court’s amendments are also available separately in PDF format so that the September 2005 Plan can be updated to incorporate the amendments. Replacement pages for the Waitaki Catchment Water Allocation Regional Plan (PDF 502KB).

Annex 1 of the Plan gives the Board’s decisions and reasons for adopting the Plan’s provisions. The Plan is accompanied by two supporting documents, a document evaluating the Plan’s provisions (Section 32 Report), and a document containing material referred to in the Plan (Material Incorporated by Reference).

Now that the Board has completed its function, it has been formally dissolved. The Board’s web-pages have been withdrawn, and the Ministry’s Catchment Waitaki Office (and its email address and free-phone number) have been disestablished.

Any enquiries about the processing of applications for resource consents relating to water use in the catchment, and about ongoing water resource management issues should be made to the Canterbury Regional Council (Environment Canterbury). Copies of information, submissions and evidence used by the Board in preparing the Plan have been provided to Environment Canterbury. Key information is available on-line at Environment Canterbury’s web-site.