4 Approach
Focus group meetings were undertaken for the irrigation and public/non-extractive users. This comprised three meetings for the irrigation groups and a further single meeting for the public and non extractive stakeholders. The irrigation groups were configured to cover surface, stored and groundwater, with meeting in Canterbury (Dunsandel/Te Pirita groundwater primarily with some surface water), Tasman (Groundwater primarily with some surface in the Motueka valley), and Marlborough (Awatere valley - surface and stored water). The domestic, industrial and hydro viewpoints were covered by individual interviews rather than focus groups because it was considered that their issues would be sufficiently different from those of other extractors that combining them would be counter-productive.
The focus group meetings and interviews had two objectives. They aimed to:
- identify the beliefs of the groups about the nature of their property rights
- identify the way in which those beliefs affect behaviour in relation to the resource.
The study did not have the resources to develop a detailed understanding of the behavioural implications of the participants' beliefs. The aim of the meetings and interviews was to understand the situation as reported by participants. There may therefore be some reporting bias associated with the results to the extent that this was not able to be isolated by questioning. Responses were not validated through any other formal means.
The focus group meetings with irrigators were undertaken in a structured way, with introductions, general discussion and small group consideration of scenarios. A template for the focus group meetings and the questions worked through with the small groups is shown in Annex 1 below. Each focus group had 8-12 participants. Individual interviews followed a similar but less prescriptive format, with questions tailored to the circumstances of the interviewee.
Councils in each of the study areas were contacted to discuss the nature of the consents.
The scope of this report does not specifically examine the perceptions of Maori in relation to water allocation and use, or address whether those perceptions would raise any further issues. An additional process is required to specifically investigate these issues.
