water sharing schemes: insights from canterbury and otago · this report presents findings from an...

Water sharing schemes: insights from Canterbury and Otago


Martin Ward

Environmental consultant

Shona Russell

Landcare Research

Prepared for:

Foundation for Research, Science and Technology

PO Box 12240, Thorndon, Wellington 6144

August 2010

31 Moncks Spur Road, Redcliffs, Christchurch 8081

Landcare Research, Gerald Street, PO Box 40, Lincoln 7640, New Zealand, Ph +64 3 321 9999, Fax +64 3 321 9998, www.landcareresearch.co.nz

http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/

Reviewed by: Approved for release by:

James Lennox Senior Researcher Landcare Research

Michael Krausse Science Team Leader Sustainability & Society

Landcare Research Contract Report: LC0002

© Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd 2010

No part of this work covered by copyright may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, information retrieval systems, or otherwise) without the written permission of the publisher.

Landcare Research Page iii

Contents

Summary ................................................................................................................................ v

1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1

2 Research Approach ....................................................................................................... 3

3 Background ................................................................................................................... 4

3.1 Legislative changes ......................................................................................................... 4

3.2 Changing government involvement in water sharing schemes ........................................ 5

3.3 Arrangements for water use and distribution.................................................................. 7

4 Drivers for water sharing ............................................................................................... 9

4.1 Canterbury ................................................................................................................... 10

4.2 Otago ........................................................................................................................... 11

4.3 Summary of drivers....................................................................................................... 12

5 Case studies ................................................................................................................ 13

5.1 Canterbury: Te Ngawai Water Users Group ................................................................... 13

5.2 Canterbury: Ashburton–Lyndhurst Irrigation Company ................................................. 14

5.3 Canterbury: Opuha Water Partnership .......................................................................... 16

5.4 Otago: Kakanui Allocation Committee & Friends ........................................................... 18

5.5 Otago: Maniototo Irrigation Company .......................................................................... 21

5.6 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 23

6 Conditions for success for water sharing schemes....................................................... 27

6.1 Community-based leadership ....................................................................................... 27

6.2 Local identity ................................................................................................................ 28

6.3 Shared knowledge and development of trust ................................................................ 28

6.4 Reliable and up-to-date information ............................................................................. 29

6.5 Good relationships with regulators ............................................................................... 29


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7 Discussion ................................................................................................................... 30

7.1 Other institutional responses ........................................................................................ 30

7.2 Insights from Social Capital ........................................................................................... 34

8 Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 35

9 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... 36

10 References .................................................................................................................. 36

Landcare Research Page v

Summary

Project and Client

This report presents findings from an examination of the development of communal

irrigation schemes to understand characteristics of their formation and operation that

might inform future development of such schemes. It was prepared in 2010 for the

Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, and end-users of the Old Problems

New Solutions Project 1 (C09X0702). Old Problems New Solutions examines how

researchers and policymakers work together with water users and communities for the

governance for sustainable management of water resources.

Objectives

Our research sought to find out:

What drivers have shaped the development of water sharing schemes?

What are the characteristics of these water sharing schemes?

What are some of the conditions that have been important in the development of

schemes?

Approach

The project examined the development of water sharing schemes for irrigation in

Canterbury (Te Ngawai Water Users Group, Ashburton–Lyndhurst Company, and the

Opuha Water Partnership) and Otago (Kakanui Water Allocation Committee and

Maniototo Irrigation Company).

The findings presented in this report are informed by interviews with key individuals

linked to those groups and staff from regional councils to identify these conditions.

The insights from interviews are supported by insights from literature about the

historical development of irrigation and the primary sector in New Zealand.

Findings

Water sharing schemes have developed in response to drivers such as:

Desire for more reliable supply of irrigation water

Pressure from new irrigators for water allocations

Challenge to regional councils of monitoring thousands of individual consents

Increasing awareness of the need for more active management of water

resources

1 See http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/programme.asp?Proj_Collab_ID=94

http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/programme.asp?Proj_Collab_ID=94


Page vi Landcare Research

Over-allocation of surface water resources leading to extreme low flows in

some rivers

Shortcomings in early planning and consenting, especially around

environmental flow volumes

Characteristics of the schemes differed with regards the origins of the scheme, whether

storage was available, whether water sharing or rostering arrangements were in place,

and the sources of water supply for each scheme.

Other factors such as the development and management of relationships both internally

between members of the scheme, and externally, with regulators and other

stakeholders, and the use of telemetry have been important in the management of both

the water sharing scheme and on-farm irrigation.

We identified a set of „conditions‟ that have been important in the development of these

schemes and that are likely to be so in the future:

Community-based leadership

Local identity

Shared knowledge

Reliable and up-to-date information

Good relationships with regulators

Conclusions & Recommendations

The research has identified a range of development pathways for water sharing schemes

from those that originated from historic mining rights to others that were formed in

response to Environment Court decisions.

Trust relations within schemes and with others, particularly regulators, are increasingly

important especially as there is a move from regulation to collaboration for the

management of New Zealand‟s water resources.

Further research could examine

Development pathways of water user groups in other parts of the country

Impacts of changing nature of relationships between schemes and regulators,

such as in relation to monitoring of water abstraction, influences the

development of water sharing schemes

The linkages between the development of water sharing schemes with other

collaborative responses to water management and how such collaboration will

be supported by government agencies, regulators and the irrigation industry.

Landcare Research Page1

1 Introduction

Water is vital to land use activities. Reliable access to water for stock and irrigation is

particularly important to agricultural activities in New Zealand. In dry or drought-prone

areas, a reliable water supply enables farmers to increase and maintain stock numbers and

helps ensure crops mature to harvest in profitable yields. In response to the need for reliable

supply of water, water sharing schemes have developed allowing for irrigation. In 2001,

irrigation schemes serving from 500 to 30,000 ha provided irrigation water to farmers over

more than 165,000 ha in New Zealand (MAF 2001).

This report presents findings from an examination drivers and conditions that have been

important in the development of water sharing schemes in Canterbury and Otago. The report

was prepared in 2010 for the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, and other

end-users of the Old Problems New Solutions Project2 (C09X0702). The research has been

conducted as part of a research programme (Old Problems New Solutions3) that examines

water governance in New Zealand focusing on the emergence of innovative responses to

water management challenges.

Water sharing schemes have developed as communal or community responses to water

challenges, sometimes alongside individual resource consents for water and the building of

on-farm storage. „Communal irrigation schemes‟ are described as „the grouping together of

people to share in the collection and distribution of water into a defined community of

interest‟ (MAF 2001).We use the term „water sharing schemes‟ to describe response to water

challenges that incorporate water sharing arrangements for water use, most often for

irrigation.

Here, we examine the drivers and conditions that have been important for the development of

five schemes located in Canterbury and Otago (see Figure 1) – two regions with the largest

areas of irrigable land in the country. We identify the diversity of characteristics of water

sharing schemes to illustrate the range of different pathways current, and future, schemes

could develop. We have positioned the developments of these schemes in the context of

similar collaborative initiatives in both regions that are emerging in response to challenges

with land and water management4.

2 See http://www.opns.landcareresearch.co.nz for further information

3 This research was conducted as part of the Old Problems, New Solutions project that examines decision-

making for sustainable management of water resources. Other parts of the research project examine governance

arrangements (Gunningham 2008, unpubl. report); participation in decision-making (Russell & Ward 2010);

deliberative processes for water management (Lennox et al. forthcoming) and sustainability appraisal of water

strategy options (Russell & Ward 2010; Jenkins et al. forthcoming).

4 Other examples of collaborative responses to aspects of water management include the Land and Water

Forum, Canterbury Water Management Strategy, and efforts by regional councils to support water user groups

e.g. the Upper Taieri Project in North Otago. See section 5.7 for further discussion of these groups.


Page2 Landcare Research

Figure 1 Locations of water sharing schemes in Canterbury and Otago.


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2 Research Approach

Research was conducted between November 2009 and February 2010. During that period, we

reviewed literature and policy documents to understand the context in schemes have

developed; and one of the researchers (Martin Ward) conducted interviews with key

individuals connected to these schemes and water user groups.

The review of previous work involved searching for literature and policy documents on

databases, websites and asking individuals to recommend documents. Previous research had

examined the social impacts of irrigation schemes (McCrostie Little & Taylor 2001), water

transfer (Lang et al. 2006, 2008), and the changing administration of schemes (Collins et al

2001, Le Prou 2007). While various presentations5 and papers written by a range of

individuals engaged in various aspects of water management in New Zealand with regards

water allocation (Jenkins 2007), water security (Heiler 2009) and community-led water

management (Newman & Robertson 2010) provided useful insights into the current

developments in water sharing from perspectives of regulators, irrigation industry and

community groups.

We identified five schemes in Canterbury and Otago regions as examples of community-

based groups coming together to share water – primarily for irrigation. We approached

irrigation industry organisations and irrigation schemes via telephone to describe the project,

the objectives and intended outputs; and to request interviews with particular individuals or to

seek recommendations about whom to interview. We identified key informants as those

individuals who were leaders with experience of the particular schemes and who had an

understanding of the context and technical details of schemes. We also identified other

informants from regional councils and interviewed them on the basis that some water scheme

consent conditions stipulate that irrigators must engage with stakeholders while others have

ongoing relationships with regional council staff in related aspects of water management.

We developed an interview schedule to identify and examine the drivers of the schemes‟

respective developments; the conditions that have been important for their development and

the characteristics of these schemes. We conducted 21 face-to-face interviews between

December 2009 and February 2010 with key informants from schemes and regional councils.

In some cases individuals were happy to meet alone and in other cases interviews were held

with two members of an irrigation group. Some interviews were repeated with key informants

to clarify points. After interviews were completed we sought verification of our descriptive

analysis of the scheme, clarification of details, and further comments from participants.

Interviewees also discussed „big picture‟ issues including developments in corporate farming,

changes in rural communities, and long-term impacts and benefits of changing farming

practices that provide a context in which to understand the development of water sharing

schemes.

5 Such as the Water Infrastructure Forum in December 2008, Christchurch.

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3 Background

Voluntary water sharing schemes for irrigation began in New Zealand in Central Otago

during the late 1800s using dams, races and other facilities originally developed for gold

mining (see Box 1 below). Using a method referred to as „wild flood‟, these activities were

owned and operated by individual farmers or groups of farmers. Since then other schemes

have developed with government and private involvement. More recently, water user groups

in other regions, such as Hawkes Bay, are exploring options for water sharing schemes. Here

we present an overview of some of the factors and changes that have occurred concerning

legislative changes, degrees of government involvement in the schemes prior to giving an

introduction to types of arrangements that are common amongst the schemes.

Mining Privileges in Central Otago

The first water sharing schemes in Central Otago secured water through the Mining Act 1898 which provided for the issue of ‘mining privileges in respect of water’ for terms of up to 42 years. These privileges were issued for mining gold with little, if any, assessment of actual stream flows available (Otago Regional Council, 2007). They were divisible and transferable and were widely issued in Otago, especially in Central Otago. A system of priorities attached to the issue of these permits such that the ‘first in time means the first in right’ allowing one deemed permit holder to take all the available water leaving no downstream flow for other water users or to maintain aquatic habitat. When accumulated the rights exceed available river flows in parts of Central Otago (Heiler 2009).

3.1 Legislative changes

The Mining Act 1898 is just one piece of legislation that has been formative in the

development of water sharing schemes. Table 1 below summarises some of the legislation

that been influential in the development of schemes with regards the purpose or origins of the

establishment of water sharing schemes as an engineering project first and foremost rather

than one that enables ongoing diversification of land use by farmers as is the case with the

Public Works Act 1928.

Other legislation provided for rights to use water and changed the terms and conditions of the

mining privileges first granted in the late 19th century, as well as the changing how irrigation

schemes were financed and who paid for different aspects of the water sharing schemes.

Government funding applied only to capital works to take the water from the river source, for

canals and, where used, storage dams. On-farm distribution costs were not funded by the

government. The rationale for government involvement in irrigation investment rested on the

schemes being too large and investment horizons too long for individuals acting alone.

Furthermore, government involved in these large scale scheme developments were seen to

provide employment in agricultural production (Farley & Simon 1996) and more specifically

in the Depression years of the 1930s scheme development enabled gainful employment of

unemployed persons in public good works programmes.



Table 1 Legislation and water sharing schemes

Public Works Act 1928

Legislation treated early scheme development as an engineering project with poor provision for the wide ranging changes that had to be made by landholders.

Water and Soil Conservation Act 1967,

This was the first comprehensive water management legislation which provided for rights to take and use water for the use of individuals, companies and the Crown. Most early schemes outside Otago were developed under this legislation. An amendment to the Act in 1971 provided for the term of mining privileges held by the government or a local authority to continue in perpetuity.

Public Works Act 1975

This Act introduced a statutory basis for calculating water charges. The legislation provided for a two-part water charge: a ‘basic charge’ levied on all irrigable land within the scheme (regardless of whether it was actually being irrigated) to recoup a portion of capital costs, a ‘water availability’ charge, payable when water was available to be taken from the schemes, and an ‘overhead ‘amount to cover operation and maintenance costs (Farley & Simon 1996).

Irrigation Scheme Act 1990

This Act established authority ‘to dispose the irrigation projects and eliminated all statutory provisions for irrigation. In addition, the Act provided for the transfer of existing access rights held by the government to new owners; and provide for the transfer of existing government-held water rights to the purchasers’. The legislation addressed each scheme to be ‘sold’ to private owners, detailing the assets and essential elements of the scheme arrangements.

Resource Management Act 1991

This Act legislates for the allocation of water and provided for Irrigation Company Public Works Act rights to terminate in 2001 and mining privileges to cease in 2021. It specified that all water rights issued under other earlier legislation are to expire on 1 October 2026. This legislation established new procedures and rules governing water use, with regional councils playing a leading administrative role with catchment studies and consenting water takes.

3.2 Changing government involvement in water sharing schemes

Government involvement in water sharing schemes began in 1910 with public financing of

12 irrigation projects in Central Otago before the end of 1935. The government purchased or

appropriated many of the mining privileges and developed larger irrigation schemes, often

involving dam-contained storage. After 1935, government-financed construction of irrigation

projects was extended to other areas of the country with the eventual construction of 40

irrigation projects in the South Island and 9 in the North Island. The great majority of

schemes utilised border-dyke irrigation methods for pastoral farming, mostly sheep

During periods of higher government involvement, the Ministry of Works6 designed,

constructed and operated the government-owned irrigation schemes and had the

responsibility for determining annual water charges. These were paid by water users to cover

operation and maintenance costs plus the interest costs associated with a quarter of the capital

cost associated with headworks and distribution facilities (Farley & Simon 1996). A number

6 Later to become the Ministry of Works and Development.

Landcare Research

of schemes involved some electricity generation, an activity that was managed by the

government for use in the national grid.

Following a shift away from active government participation in the economy during the

economic reforms of the 1980s, Fifty-two government-owned irrigation projects, ranging in

size from 100 ha to >20 000 ha and involving from three to over 300 individual irrigators,

were put up for sale. The projects were sold in their existing condition, which in many

instances reflected significant deferred maintenance and which resulted in the government

paying the irrigators to accept the assets. Water rights held by the government were

transferred to the projects on existing terms and conditions except that the remaining terms

were limited to 30 years from the date of sale. The new owners of the irrigation schemes

established co-operatives or incorporated societies with office holders elected from amongst

their numbers. Formal water supply agreements were put in place and race men employed to

operate the schemes day to day and for maintenance.

The privatisation of the Ministry of Works and Development‟s operations in 1988 (the source

of government hydrology and engineering expertise central to irrigation development) and

the withdrawal of government from a central role in the economy was accompanied by a

swift and complete withdrawal of subsidy support from almost all aspects of farming. There

was a period of consolidation for voluntary water sharing schemes in the two regions with

little irrigation development. More recently, individual irrigation schemes have developed

comprising mainly groundwater abstraction and with increasing emphasis on spray irrigation

of various types. Four large community irrigation schemes developed by farming interests are

the Downlands, Opuha, Benmore and Waimakariri schemes. The Maniototo Irrigation

Scheme was extended during this period as well. Two others with resource consents but that

have yet to be constructed are the Central Plains and Barrhill–Chertsey schemes. All schemes

had some form of underwriting of capital cost either by the local council, an electricity

company or significant shareholder investor.

While schemes were built, there was slow uptake in on-farm irrigation in the first half of the

twentieth century which is attributed to a „failure to provide reference to farmers‟ needs and

expectations meant that irrigation development on-farm was completed very slowly and

therefore there was under-utilisation of the resource for many years‟ coupled with increased

annual costs both operational and maintenance for the infrastructure, and farmers‟

unwillingness to pay additional costs (MAF 2001). By the mid-1950s, there was a realisation

that development of water sharing schemes required prior commitment and involvement by

farmers and others with regards both the costs and involvement from the start. Farmers had to

be involved and fully informed of expected financial responsibilities in the future, the

possible benefits that they would gain from irrigation leading to active involvement of

farmers in the promotion and implementation of schemes as well as the increased provision

of advice and research on irrigation practices and farm management benefits (MAF 2001).

Increasingly, local government had an important and active role alongside their communities

in the development of water sharing schemes. Local and regional government have

contributed technical advice, labour and machinery as well as acting as an advocate and

mediator between the community and Central Government as evidenced during the

development of the Rangitata Diversion Race (see McCrostie Little & Taylor 2001 and

information in section 6.2). In addition, in recent years MAF‟s Sustainable Farming Fund

has supported community groups by giving information and advice on irrigation illustrating



the ongoing relationships between government agencies and farmers that are important in

scheme development.

3.3 Arrangements for water use and distribution

Seasonal fluctuations in surface water and hydraulically connected groundwater and the need

to ensure water is available in alignment with crop growth cycles and seasonal-long demand

for pasture associated with land use intensification and growth in arable and dairy farming

has led to the development of various arrangements for the use and distribution of water both

on-farm and across water sharing schemes. The majority of water sharing schemes in

Canterbury and Otago involve taking water directly from rivers and hydraulically connected

groundwater. These sources of water are subject to seasonal fluctuation. Restricting water

use on farms as surface water flows diminish or groundwater levels decline provides

challenges and stress for on-farm management. Schemes that take water direct from rivers or

ground water, and those with storage require arrangements for the distribution and use of

water, particularly when managing depleted flows in summer.

The rapid increase in individual irrigation takes (since 1999) has driven another type of water

sharing scheme. These arise from groups of individual irrigators seeking takes from surface

or hydraulically connected groundwater from a particular stretch of a river. Sharing

arrangements are increasingly being imposed by regional councils as the councils have

sought innovative ways of meeting the demand for irrigation water while managing the

collective impact on river flows of new and existing irrigators. The new form of communal

arrangement is to help ensure an equitable distribution of the water resource between

abstractors, and between them and the environmental needs of the rivers. These arrangements

are generally imposed through the regulatory system with conditions on individual and

groups of consents.

Rostering of water supply (or take) or restrictions on takes are the common arrangements

used7 in the use and distribution of water. Decisions about when to use, and distribute, water

requires reliable and timely river flow information as well as some basis for distribution.

Telemetry technology provides tools to monitor river flows guide individual farming, and

distribution decisions across the scheme; while collaboration between consent holders sharing

the same restriction arrangements as a result of their location (on the same tributary or stretch

of the river) or consent type (restricted class of consents) offers the basis for „distribution‟ of

water take opportunities to meet individual as well as communal needs.

In the larger schemes, when diversion or dams are involved, water supply to individual

irrigators is subject to arrangements established by the parent entity through water supply

agreements (WSA). These agreements (or irrigation deeds) set out details of how and how

much water is to be made available, what time of year and at what cost it is to be delivered.

Water supply agreements for different schemes have developed from the common model

established by the Ministry of Works but with some differences depending on the type of

scheme (see Table 1).

7 Resource consents commonly have a two-step response to diminishing flows – step 1 to go to 50% reduction,

step 2 to full restriction, i.e. no abstraction.

Landcare Research

Table 2 Examples of rostering arrangements

Type of scheme Factors to consider in rostering arrangements

Communal irrigation scheme

Rostering is used to share water demand

Larger dam or diversion race schemes

Roster must take into account the need to ‘push’ sufficient volume down the system to ensure irrigators towards the end of the system receive their allocation.

Run of river schemes Rostering is to ensure river environmental flow levels are not breached

While the need for a roster, for normal delivery and restricted flow delivery, is identified in

the WSA, the roster itself sits outside the agreements as a management tool for amendment

from time to time as circumstances dictate. Well-designed rosters and close compliance with

roster „rules‟ is critical to the effective and efficient operation of the schemes. Commonly

individual irrigators are rostered to take a particular volume of water between specified times.

Taking water outside these times denies other irrigators their allocation, while failing to take

the water can result in flooding of roads and pressure on infrastructure.

In order for these WSAs to work, it is necessary to closely monitor and record water use. The

ongoing monitoring, recording and reporting of water use supports the ongoing information

base for decision-making about when and how to use and distribute water. In addition, this

body of information is likely to be more accurate than the regulators occasional compliance

monitoring, often in the form of spot-checks. The ongoing monitoring of water use by

irrigators, as users of water, could lead to the reduction of costs for both the regulators and

water user through the reduction in the need for additional monitoring by the regulator.

Rostering and monitoring are just some of the rules, informal and formal, that are in

operation in schemes. Other rules include restrictions on types of operations (for example not

„watering roads or pumping at times that are not agreed upon8), are often set down in the

incorporated society rules, water supply agreements, operations or operating policy manual.

Non-compliance to these rules can lead to penalties. One company reports that the rules are

not set down in any prescriptive way and would be best described as „common sense best

practice‟ set by the Board and notified to shareholders in newsletters9. These examples

illustrate the various ways in which schemes are developing arrangements for water use and

distribution in accordance with the unique characteristics of the schemes as illustrated in the

next section.

8 In one scheme the penalties for early pumping or late shut off are on a 5-step scale commencing with a verbal

warning, followed by a written one, then 1 week‟s loss of water, then 3 weeks‟ loss, then loss of right to take at

all.

9 Pers comm. Graeme Sutton



4 Drivers for water sharing

Early irrigation projects were largely an insurance against drought against a perverse climate

rather than a production management tool. As dryland farming approached its upper stocking

limits under farm practices, the resilience of farm economics to withstand bad years

diminished. Irrigation provides the means of not only overcoming drought but creates

opportunities to intensify and diversify land uses. Irrigation technologies such as spray and

sprinkler systems have led to the realisation of the full potential of water application

(McCrostie Little and Taylor 2001). Initially the majority of irrigation and stock water

schemes were „communal‟ because they needed the collective use of the water, to justify the

capital involved. It was only when well-drilling and pumping technology improved that it

become practicable for an individual farm to irrigate from its own resources.

While surface water was a common source of supply, groundwater use for irrigation started

in the 1960s and more recently has increased with the rapid expansion of irrigated dairy

farming onto light soils previously thought suitable only for extensive dry stock farming

(Weeber et al. 2001). The development of more sophisticated irrigation methods, and in

particular the move to spray irrigation, introduced the need for supply certainty. This has

resulted in a trend towards on-farm or scheme storage.

Water allocation in New Zealand increased by 50% between 1999 and 2006 mainly as a

result of an increase in the area of irrigated land (MfE 2007, p. 262) with allocation in

Canterbury and Otago accounts for almost three-quarters of the country‟s total allocation.

The allocation and sharing of water are intertwined with the growth in irrigation technologies

and the area of land under irrigation. As water schemes have developed there have been

changes in land use and options for the sources of water supply have been created through the

development of different technologies. Notably, the security of water supply remains central

to the development of water sharing schemes. Many different drivers have led to individuals

coming together to discuss how water can be shared and managed for collective interests in

response to a range of different concerns ranging from drought protection to job creation as

summarised in Table 2 below.

Table 3 Changing governance concerns for irrigation (Collins et al 2001)

Era Dominant governance concerns Locations of new schemes

1910 – 1934

Drought protection Central Otago

1935 – 1949

Job creation

Drought protection

Desire to put water to work

Canterbury

1950 – 1960

Need to review schemes

Greater cost sharing

Canterbury

Central Otago

1961 – 1984

National economic interest

Farm management tool

South Island

Upper North Island

Post – 1984 Improve efficiency

End subsidisation

Privatisation through sale to irrigators

A small number in diverse locations proposed before 1984

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Having given an overview of the concerns of water haring schemes generally, the following

sub-sections introduce aspects of water governance for Canterbury and Otago, leading to the

identification of drivers for such schemes.

4.1 Canterbury

Environment Canterbury (ECan) is the regional council with responsibilities for the

management of Canterbury‟s water resources through the allocation of water resources

through resource consents and the setting and adjustment of river levels. In Canterbury water

resources are widely believed to be over-allocated (Jenkins 2007; Heiler 2009). However,

actual use is believed to be between 50% and 70% of allocations on average (Heiler 2009).

The region faces challenges in the form of the number of individual consents for water takes

currently standing at over 6300 (James Palmer pers. comm.) with many consents covering

more than one extraction point; and river flow levels below environmental flow levels

commonly occur in rivers such as the Ashley, Waipara, Waikari, Selwyn and the Irwell. The

year-on-year decline of groundwater reservoir levels and lowland and foothill river flows

during irrigation seasons and increased competition for water through allocation processes

leave few in doubt that the water resource has reached or exceeded sustainability levels.

Establishing and operating an effective region-wide programme to measure and monitor

water takes and ensuring compliance with various consent and plan limits is a huge job and

while there has been good recent progress with the development of the Canterbury Water

Management Strategy Strategic Framework and the establishment of the zonal and regional

committees which have respective responsibilities to develop water management

implementation programmes.

Alongside the development of a regional strategic framework, water allocation decisions are

increasingly considering the management of environmental flows and flow variation as part

of responses to maintain in-stream ecological and recreational values; and telemetry is being

used to record and report on flows. Ensuring an effective network of flow recorders with

telemetry for real-time reporting is not subject to the lengthy delays that RMA procedures

impose on environmental flow setting. Recent trials of telemetry of water use data have

reinforced the potential for consent holders to actively manage their own resource use. Such

management by consent holders avoids onsite readings thus reducing compliance monitoring

costs. Furthermore, water use data can also be integrated with other data such as low-flow

sites, climate and soil moisture data which when integrated can be used as an effective on-

farm management tool to reduce overall running costs (ECan 2005) for consent holders.



4.2 Otago

Demand for water has increased and there is a clear trend of decreasing flows in the Kakanui catchment during the irrigation season over time, despite no observable changes in rainfall trends. This is presumed to be an increase in water use intensity associated with an increase in intensive farming practices such as dairy farming that have a higher demand for water.

(Otago Regional Council 2007).

In Otago, water allocation and use for irrigation has a number of particular challenges

relating to its history and changing land uses as the quote above identifies. Like Canterbury

and other regions to a greater or lesser degree, there are some legacy issues arising from

inadequate or incomplete hydrologic information on many rivers and lack of understanding of

the connectivity between groundwater and surface water. Throughout the region, water

sharing schemes for irrigation are reliant on water storage dams and old mining races, as well

as individual irrigators having access to local water10

.

Otago Regional Council is the regional council responsible for water management and the

region‟s current response builds upon the historical rights to take water associated with

„mining rights‟ (see Box 1), the „permissive‟ allocation of water under the Water and Soil

Conservation Act, and finally the „first come first served‟ allocation under the RMA. The

changing legislation and the absence of adequate catchment planning have resulted in many

Otago rivers being over-allocated11

.

The origin of the majority of water permits originally issued for mining activities (sluicing,

etc.) under the Mining Act 1898, over 100 years ago in Otago (see Box) is the most

significant driver for innovative and community-based management of water schemes. These

permits cease to exist in 2021 and the regional council needs to establish replacement

arrangements not just for individual water takes but also for a variety of water sharing

schemes that have emerged over time associated with the mining rights. The informal and

formal arrangements are outside the regulatory framework and would require complex and

individual rules to bring them into a regional water plan.

The Otago Regional Council (2008a) has provided for Water Allocation Committees (WACs)

in the Otago Regional Plan: Water to address the rationing of water takes when water is

approaching minimum flows or aquifer restriction levels are in place. The WACs are

established under a condition of resource consents and the consent holder must comply with

restrictions set by the WACs. The WACs are subcommittees of the Regional Council; created

under the Local Government Act, and subject to that Act. Every 3 years, the subcommittee

must be reappointed by the Council, which provides some administrative and compliance

support. By devolving decision-making to schemes allows the arrangements to be renewed

10 David Hamilton „Otago Irrigation Presentation‟ at Water Infrastructure Forum 20 December 2008

http://www.maf.govt.nz/mafnet/rural-nz/sustainable-resource-use/irrigation/water-infrastructure-

forum/presentation-02.pdf

11 The 2009 ORC report „Water management and allocation into the future – A strategy for Otago‟, records,

„Most surface water in Otago, with the exception of the Clutha River/Mata-Au, is seriously over-allocated and

demand for water continues to increase.‟ (ORC, 2009).

http://www.maf.govt.nz/mafnet/rural-nz/sustainable-resource-use/irrigation/water-infrastructure-forum/presentation-02.pdf

http://www.maf.govt.nz/mafnet/rural-nz/sustainable-resource-use/irrigation/water-infrastructure-forum/presentation-02.pdf

Landcare Research

(or be changed) within broad guidelines established by mutual agreement and introduced by

plan change.

Alongside the development of a regional water plan and the devolution of decision-making to

water committees, the regional council has established environmental flow levels for only a

small number of Otago rivers. However, this is being addressed through a plan change

(Otago Regional Council 2008a, 2008b). Notably, deemed permit holders do not need to

abide by minimum flow restrictions.

4.3 Summary of drivers

In summary, water sharing schemes have developed in response to drivers such as:

Desire for more reliable supply of irrigation water

Pressure from new irrigators for water allocations

Challenge to regional councils of monitoring thousands of individual consents

Increasing awareness of the need for more active management of water resources (for

example through the setting of environmental flows)

Over-allocation of surface water resources leading to extreme low flows in some rivers

Shortcomings in early planning and consenting, especially around environmental flow

volumes

And particular to Otago:

The expiry in 2021 of deemed permits issued under the Mining Act.

The next section presents case studies of water sharing schemes and initiatives to aspects of

governance and management to identify factors that have been important for the development

of these schemes over time. While each scheme has faced different challenges with regards

drivers and characteristics in terms of scale, location, water availability and capital

availability, as illustrated below, there are some common factors that have enabled schemes

to develop as discussed in section 6.



5 Case studies

Our investigation examines the development of water sharing schemes in Canterbury and

Otago (see Figure 2) to glean insights with regard to drivers, responses and future pathways

for action in local contexts involving a range of parties, including regulators and

stakeholders. Here we examine the development of the schemes with reference to how each

operates within the context of how allocation decisions are made by regional councils

5.1 Canterbury: Te Ngawai Water Users Group

Te Ngawai12

is a small true-right tributary of the Opihi River in South Canterbury. In 1999,

applications to take water from Te Ngawai River were submitted under the RMA following

the need to renew rights for irrigation under the Water and Soil Conservation Act 1967.

Environment Canterbury, the regulatory authority, considered the consent applications as a

group at a notified hearing in 2001. Consents were issued with conditions that restricted the

five applicants to ensure the river flow did not fall below a minimum flow level measured

downstream of the lowest abstractor. Once minimum flow levels were reached, restrictions

would then be applied.

Subsequently, the applicants appealed to the Environment Court regarding the conditions on

the consents, and they proposed to collaborate in a water sharing scheme. On the basis of an

Environment Court ruling, the consents were issued in 2003 to the applicant irrigators. The

consents were identical and the Tengawai [sic] Water Users Group was identified as the

named holder of the consents rather than the individual applicants. The informal group was

formed as part of consent conditions without incorporation or other formal organisational

structure.

The consent conditions also specify the rates at which the irrigators can pump water from the

river or hydraulically connected groundwater in nearby gravels, the minimum flows during

three periods of the year; and rule that irrigation restrictions will be imposed when river flows

drop to, or fall below, those levels. Finally, the conditions directed the group to install

approved measurement, data-logging and telemetry equipment on irrigation pumps. This

water sharing scheme does not involve water storage and there is no rostering of water takes

unless ECan has put water restrictions in place. This scheme would limit the combined rate of

abstractions in the event that the flow reached minimum flow levels to ensure minimum flow

requirements are not breached.

The group has developed an allocation and rostering system that controls who takes water

during periods when full abstraction would result in non-compliance. The members meet

annually and elect a chairperson whose responsibilities include liaising with the regulator and

direct compliance action in response to the low-flow trigger. The established rationing

procedure in the group is day-on/day-off rostering, although there is flexibility to negotiate

different short-term arrangements subject to collective agreement. There are two steps down

on restriction, initially to 50% then cease pumping.

12 Te Ngawai is the correct spelling of the name formerly and commonly written (and pronounced) Tengawai.

Landcare Research

Environment Canterbury installed telemetric data transfer equipment to enable compliance

with consent conditions as part of a regional trial of equipment and the collection and use of

information gathered. Since November 2005, the group has been able to access the

information gathered from a consultant‟s website along with information on climate, soil

moisture, low flows and dam levels that are available on the ECan website13

. This gives

consent holders continuous access to information that informs decisions about irrigation.

The telemetry trial was designed to allow these farmers to maximise the use of their allocated

water either on an on-farm basis or collectively as water user. In both cases, instantaneous

data were required to ensure that the farmers could manage the amounts of water taken and

be able to demonstrate a degree of compliance with their resource consents. The trial

highlighted a number of issues with flow meters (e.g. the meter type selected compromised

the measurement of flow) and farmers in the trial had intermittent access to data due to slow

Internet connections. One trial participant said he had seen no benefit from the technology as

yet mainly „because Internet access in the area was abysmal‟ (ECan 2006, p. 1).

The ECan-funded telemetry trial ended at the finish of the 2008/09 irrigation season.

Subsequently the Tengawai Group have not made alternative arrangements for data collection

and transfer, such as investing in more equipment or monitoring services with the help of

consultants. In the meantime, individual scheme members are now building on-farm storage

to secure supply. While such developments could reduce, and in some cases eliminate, any

incentive for further collaborative action, the high cost of water-harvesting dams in the

Tengawai area has resulted in farmers looking at technology to help them optimise their

opportunities for securing water when it is available.

5.2 Canterbury: Ashburton–Lyndhurst Irrigation Company

The Ashburton–Lyndhurst Irrigation Scheme straddles State Highway 77 between Methven

and Ashburton in Mid-Canterbury. The scheme was established with government

involvement and support and is one of three schemes14

supplied by the Rangitata Diversion

Race which commenced delivering irrigation water in 1944 (see Box 2). As the second

largest irrigation scheme in New Zealand, the Ashburton–Lyndhurst scheme occupies

approximately 24 500 ha of land and has an allocation of 250 million cumecs [cubic metres

per second] of water delivered at 13.0 cm3/s. In addition to supplying irrigators, the scheme

also supplies the Ashburton District Council stock water race system and various private

stock water races.

It was originally designed and operated as boarder dyke irrigation for predominantly pastoral

farming. By 1986 all irrigable land within its reach was irrigated and the arrival of laser

levelling for border dyke construction enabled a widespread change of water use from

irrigation, from one of drought proofing to the use of irrigation as a farm management tool. In

pursuit of better returns and greater reliability, agriculture in the area is now dominated by

arable farming with increasing amounts of spray irrigation of one sort or another. In addition,

dairy farming has steadily increased over the years. In recent years demand for water storage

13 Environment Canterbury www.ecan.govt.nz 14

The others are Mayfield–Hinds and Valetta.



has increased to meet the needs of centre-pivot irrigation methods, which require smaller

quantities of water to be applied on a more regular basis. Some farmers have developed on-

farm storage but the Ashburton-Lyndhurst Irrigation Company is in the process of purchasing

a farm suitable for the location of a dam for scheme-wide storage.

Box 1: The Rangitata Diversion Race

The Rangitata Diversion Race (RDR) commenced construction in 1937 as one of the schemes developed by the Ministry of Works. It conveys approximately 34 cm3/s of water from the Rangitata River through irrigation canals across the Canterbury Plains to discharge into the Rakaia River. A second intake from the South Ashburton River can divert an additional 7 cm3/s of water when it is available. There are two electricity generation plants along the RDR that use water when it is not required for irrigation.

The RDR ownership structure and operational arrangements were challenged by a number of legal changes through the 1990s including changes to the ownership of its electricity generating entity, and changes to the Local Government Act and the Companies Act. In 2002 a new constitution was formally agreed between its then shareholders, the three irrigation companies, the Ashburton District Council and Trust Power, each with a 15% share. Twenty-five percent is held as B shares by Ashburton District Council for future allocation.

The Ashburton–Lyndhurst Irrigation Company (ASIC) is a limited liability company formed

in response to restrictions on raising capital for incorporated societies. The ASIC has six

directors appointed by the shareholders. It is generally agreed to be the most innovative and

progressive of the three schemes linked to the RDR scheme, which is a characteristic

attributed to farming leaders with tertiary education and more stable farm ownership in the

Ashburton–Lyndhurst scheme compared with the Valetta and Mayfield–Hinds schemes. Such

stability delivers financial security and long-term relationships enabling more enterprising

decisions.

Under original arrangements by the Ministry of Works, individual farms were allocated

8 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water for 24 hours per week for every 80 ha of farm size15

.

Payment for supply is required whether the farmer takes the water during the irrigation

season or not. Rosters are used during periods of normal water and when restrictions are in

place. Rosters are prepared by the Head Race Man (increasingly known as the Operations

Manager) in the evening. The preparation requires good knowledge of race flow rates in

different parts of the extensive scheme. As river flows diminish, the RDR signals the

likelihood of restrictions 7 days in advance. Restrictions are also imposed in the scheme as

water volume reduces, to endeavour to continue to meet delivery frequency. The initial

restriction is a reduction by 20%. The Head Race Man has final say over rosters, which

decision can only be overruled by the Board. Roster discipline is important on this scheme.

Compliance with start and finish times ensures neighbouring irrigators can use water at times

allocated to them.

The water supply agreement addresses activities in and near the races, for example restricting

the grazing of cattle, controlling vegetation and the planting of trees. The agreement provides

for immediate cut-off in supply of water and removal of control devices for significant

breaches of the agreement. In practice minor breaches of the water supply agreement result in

forfeiture of one rotation of water.

15 Pers comm John Young

Landcare Research

5.3 Canterbury: Opuha Water Partnership

The Opuha Water Partnership (OWP) comprises the South Canterbury Farmers Irrigation

Society and Levels Plains Limited16

. The Partnership owns the Opuha Dam with an upstream

reservoir and downstream subsidiary pool on the Opihi River near Fairlie in South

Canterbury. The dam was developed by a group of local farmers with unreliable irrigation

water supply from the Opihi River which was over-allocated and prone to periods without

flow. It was completed in 1999 to optimise the water resource and includes a 7mw electricity

generator. The scheme was originally financed through shares sold to landowners in the area

that could be irrigated, with a $1 million government contribution for the establishment of

environmental flows.

Discharge arrangements are governed by a complex set of conditions on the OWP consents.

The dam operates to deliver water from the reservoir into the river to meet a hierarchy of

needs and opportunities. An environmental flow level must be met at all times requiring a

base flow plus augmentation to compensate for irrigation takes. Benefiting from the

augmentation flows in the Opihi River are three downstream irrigation schemes, Levels

Plains, the Totara Valley, and the Kakahu with a combined area of 9000 ha, plus 700 ha of

land is irrigated by individual consent holders taking water from groundwater hydraulically

connected to the river (Figure 3).

Figure 2 Land supplied by the Opuha scheme17.

16 These two organisations are in the process of being incorporated as Opuha Water Ltd.

17 From http://scfis.co.nz/map



The dam was completed in 1999 to supply water from the reservoir into the river to meet a

hierarchy of needs and opportunities (e.g. irrigation and generate electricity). Today the dam,

reservoir and weir pool are under daily management of Contact Energy, under contract to

SCFIS. Contact Energy discharges water in accordance with environmental flow

requirements, flow augmentation emergency (flood) and other operational requirements

(flush flows), and for electricity. The Opuha Water Partnership is owned by the two irrigation

companies but the partnership intends to form Opuha Water Limited18

where farmers hold

shares in the scheme directly rather than via the irrigation companies.

The individual irrigators hold Water Supply Agreements (WSA) with either of the two

irrigation companies and these agreements entitle irrigators to quota of water based on their

shareholding. The agreement states that SCFIS will use its best endeavours to deliver the

quota of water at a weekly rate for the irrigation season defined as 1 September to May 3119

.

The volume and rate of delivery reflects the SCFIS water consent that sets an overall ceiling

for both. The delivery clause is subject to an „as far as practicable‟ caveat. Supply is subject

to availability and provision is made for „additional water‟ to be allocated when available

through rostering.

Individual irrigators are required to record the flow rate of water take and provide this

information to SCFIS. Charges for the water are set annually and operate on a partial „take or

pay‟ formula with 80% of the charge required irrespective of use. There are penalties for

breaches of the agreement set in two steps: first, reducing, and second, cutting off the water

supply. Individual irrigators submit orders for their water requirement with a volume

specified together with a start and finish time. The assembled orders guide the release of

water from the dam. Irrigators taking water from hydraulically connected groundwater above

and below the dam have meters and submit log records of water taken to SCFIS, a

requirement of the Opihi River Regional Plan.

The scheme‟s operation together with other aspects of water use are subject to the Opihi

River Regional Plan (ECan 2000)20

, which has a complex set of resource consent types

reflecting a history of takes and conditions from periods prior to and subsequent to the

introduction of the RMA. All activities provided for in the regional plan are discretionary

with the exception of the discharge of sewage, which is prohibited. The plan is due for review

in 2010.

The Opihi River Regional Plan established an Opuha Environmental Flow Release Advisory

Group (OEFLRG) comprising one representative each for the dam, for stakeholders of in-

stream values (appointed jointly by Department of Conservation and Central South Island

Fish & Game Council), takatä whenua, irrigators (appointed by South Canterbury Federated

Farmers), and Timaru and Mackenzie district councils. The functions of the OEFLRG are to

consider and agree variations of the specified environmental flows for the purpose of creating

an artificial fresh (short-term flood level flows) and drawing down the dam in anticipation of

flood flows. The Advisory Group has absolute authority to act subject to its decision being

18 Peter Scott, pers. comm. 19 Another company identifies the irrigation season as the full 12 months giving itself flexibility to use available water if necessary. 20 The Opihi River Regional Plan is a „main stem‟ plan and does not embrace the tributaries, something that

would normally be the case for a catchment plan.

Landcare Research

unanimous but must notify the regulator. Following low inflows to the catchment in the

summer of 2007/08, the advisory group gained approval from ECan in 2008 for a Water

Storage Direction under Section 329 of the RMA to give temporary relief from consent

conditions governing abstractions and river flows. This is now being accepted as a template

of future permanent change to the Opihi River Regional Plan. As time has gone by and the

nature of the environmental flow releases has become more routine and regular, the group has

begun to act more informally as a result of trust on both sides in terms of making decisions

about flows21

.

The collaboration over a long period of the farmers and supporters who developed and built

the dam has established strong relations between individuals and groups in the community.

These relationships underpin the effective operation of the various organisations and

committees that contribute to the management of the Opihi catchment and the irrigation

assets that serve the community. The collaboration with community stakeholders, such as

Fish and Game, dates back to the early planning for the dam and the functioning of the Opihi

Augmentation Society22

. This organisation established the respectful relationships and trust

that have underpinned the smooth consenting of the dam project and challenges that

followed.

In response to requests by SCFIS and based on a history of good relations with ECan, the

regulator has allowed the data relating to consent conditions to be collected by contractors

engaged by Opua Water Partnership and under individual contacts with irrigation companies

and individuals (Heiler 2009). This reduced duplication of effort in reporting and produced a

single integrated record for ECan. The effective operation of the Opuha Environmental Flow

Release Advisory Group and the opportunity to reduce compliance costs has fuelled the Opua

Water Partnership‟s interest in an „audited self management‟ approach to management of the

catchment (see below).

Peter Scott, an individual heavily involved in the Opua Water Partnership, gave a

presentation to the Water Infrastructure Forum in Christchurch in December 2008. He

summarised lessons learnt during the development of the scheme as: community support/trust

are important; someone needs to take responsibility; champions of the projects require

support; water reliability needs to be high and affordable; and that management continues.

5.4 Otago: Kakanui Allocation Committee & Friends

The Kakanui River in North Otago drains a catchment of approximately 900 square

kilometres from the eastern slopes of the coastal Kakanui Mountains. The river is highly

valued for its conservation and recreational values and is an important source of irrigation

water particularly in its lower reaches. The Kakanui Allocation Committee was established

by the Otago Regional Water Board under the provisions of the Water and Soil Conservation

Act around 1980. As one of two such committees in Otago, the Kakanui Allocation

Committee was given the function of rationing the exercise of water permits within the

21 Peter Scott pers. comm.

22 The organisation formed to garner support for the development of the proposal and building of the dam.



community to prevent the taking of water to an extent that would result in the minimum flow

levels that had been set for the river being breached.

The scheme does not involve water storage and, unless water abstraction restrictions have

been put in place by the Otago Regional Council, there is no rostering of water takes – the

irrigators simply pump from the river or hydraulically connected groundwater in nearby

gravels at rates stipulated by their water consent.

Prior to the adoption of the Otago Regional Plan: Water in January 2004, it was difficult to

know if flow rates were being complied with23

. A key difficulty with compliance was that in

the absence of metering or monitoring it was often not known who was taking water when the

river fell below the minimum flow. The minimum flow in the Kakanui River was a matter

addressed at length in the development of the regional water plan and an issue that was

subject to appeal to the Environment Court. Evidence produced at the hearings on appeals to

the regional water plan in February 1998 made it clear that at times of low flow there was not

enough water in the river to meet the environmental and irrigation expectations for the river.

Through the court process the water abstractors, the Kakanui Allocation Committee, argued

that the status quo minimum flow of 250 L/s should remain. Two other appellants,

Riverwatch, a Kakanui-based NGO with a regional interest, and Otago Fish and Game

Council, argued for a minimum flow of 400 L/s. In October 2001 the Environment Court set

a minimum flow at 250 L/s for the period October to April inclusive and 400 L/s for May to

September inclusive measured at two points of the river, and included a „bounce back‟ clause.

That is, if the minimum flow during October to April is breached the river must be left to

recover to a flow of 400 L/s before water taking can recommence. The bounce-back clause

was established as an incentive to prevent minimum-flow breaches and put the onus on the

water-take consent holders to manage the stream as a group.

In addition, the Environment Court directed the development of a water allocation committee,

involving the existing Kakanui Allocation Committee and stakeholder partners. Now, the

Kakanui Allocation Committee24

meets twice a year (before and after the „irrigation season‟)

with Otago Fish and Game and the Kakanui Ratepayers and Improvement Society (KRAIS),

a group nominated by Riverwatch as a suitable local partner.

The five-member Kakanui Allocation Committee (KAC) is elected by water-take consent

holders on the river and they in turn elect from their group a chairman who deals with the

Otago Regional Council and committee on day-to-day issues. The committee members are

selected to lead sub-groups of irrigators in the catchment and take responsibility for ensuring

roster decisions for their sub-group‟s part of the system. The five sub-groups represent

different parts of the Kakanui system from which water is pumped: three sub-groups

comprise abstracters from different stretches of the river pumping directly from the river, one

sub-group comprises abstracters pumping from the alluvial gravels directly connected to the

river (10–100 m from the river‟s edge), and one is of abstracters from a small tributary, the

Kauru.

23 Susie McKeague, pers. comm. 24 Strictly speaking the committee is the Kakanui Allocation Subcommittee of the Otago Regional Council Regulatory Committee

Landcare Research

In practical operation the Kakanui Allocation Committee Chairman carries the majority of the

load in terms of identifying and implementing measures to manage the response to

diminishing flow levels towards the low-flow threshold. He receives automatically text alerts

of water gauge levels at critical levels sent automatically and has access to web-based river

flow information collected and transmitted by a network of recording stations established by

Otago Regional Council. Information is also gathered from telemetry equipment at particular

sites. As flows decrease, the allocation committee chairman confers with members and

implements a roster of water takes to ensure the river flows do not fall below the 250 L/s

level. Immediate responses include requesting the shutdown of selected, strategic pumps and

longer-term measures include rostering of when and how long pumps may be used.

The system relies on the committee (in fact generally the Chairman) having a very good

understanding of the river flow behaviour and up-to-date information on members‟ water use,

as well as accurate and timely river flow information. He also needs the means to

communicate his management decisions. In practice, the committee do understand the river

well and information is generally but not always timely. Communication relies on cellphone

coverage, which is patchy. Complete coverage by telemetry of all meters would make the job

easier and reduce the not inconsiderable stress on the chairman of the time on whose

shoulders the responsibility for keeping the river above minimum flow falls. Managing the

system is not helped by different consents providing for different forms of take. All have an

instantaneous rate of take limit, and some but not all have cumulative/volumetric volume

limits; some of which are set as daily limits, other monthly and others seasonal25.

Rosters have traditionally been straightforward with groups of irrigators taking water over

alternative periods, initially 12 hourly, then every 24 hours and so on at increasingly long

intervals as water availability dictates. This is a self-policing system with irrigators

contacting the chairman if an irrigator appears to not be following the roster for whatever

reason.

The twice-yearly meetings between the committee, regional council, Kakanui Ratepayers and

Improvement Society and Otago Fish & Game are acknowledged by all parties as becoming

increasingly positive over the years. These meetings now tend to cover issues for the wider

community rather than just water takes, and at the suggestion of the Kakanui Allocation

Committee and with the agreement of the other parties they have been reduced to two. Over

time, Otago Fish & Game and the Kakanui Ratepayers and Improvement Society have felt

comfortable giving apologies and not attending meetings as their content is now so routine

and relationships able to be managed between meetings with ease.

25 The start of the month is an important time for irrigators. Those who reached their monthly limit prior to that date come back onto the scheme at the start of the next month.



5.5 Otago: Maniototo Irrigation Company

The Maniototo Irrigation Company manages dam storage at the Loganburn Dam on

Loganburn Creek, an upper tributary of the Taieri River in the Paerau Valley at the southern

end of the Maniototo Plain, Central Otago. The dam was constructed in the early 1980s and

the stored water is used to provide supplementary flows in the Taieri River to maintain

minimum flows measured immediately below the diversion point near Paerau. Irrigation

shareholders take water at intervals along the river subject to rosters. Releases from the

Loganburn Dam benefit holders of deemed permits and some RMA water take consents with

takes between the dam and the Paerau diversion. These takes are not subject to supply

agreements with the Maniototo Irrigation Company26.

The Maniototo Irrigation Company was the last of the government schemes and was taken

over by the landowners in a partially complete state in 1984. Construction began in 1973 with

an estimated cost of $6.2m; by the time it was commissioned in 1984 the cost was $32m.The

early history of the Maniototo Irrigation Scheme was troubled. It was the last of the large

government schemes, designed and built by the Ministry of Works. When commissioned in

1984 the infrastructure was in place for only about 40% of the area originally intended to be

irrigated.

The scheme was purchased by the landowners in 1987 and in the course of the next decade

the irrigation works and ownership and operational structure was completed. By 1990 it

comprised three more-or-less independent limited-liability irrigation companies, East Side,

West Side and Waipiata, which own the Maniototo Irrigation Company, which in turn owns

and operates the dam and headworks. The three irrigation companies, with separate articles of

association, own infrastructure related to the operation of their schemes. They receive an

allocation of water in relation to their shareholder numbers.

In hearings on the draft Regional Plan Water in 2001addressing minimum flows, objections

came from Otago Fish & Game, Federated Farmers, the Otago Water Resource Users Group

and the irrigation company. Commissioners conducting the hearings directed representatives

of the applicant and Fish & Game to meet the irrigation company representatives and resolve

any issues, a dialogue which was the beginning of what both parties now describe as a good

relationship.

Rosters are drawn up and published for all those who use gravity turnouts (330 L/s)

approximately every 20–25 days during the irrigation season (15 September to 30 April).

This is the length of the irrigation cycle for flood irrigation systems, although this can vary

depending on soil types and time of year. These rosters are supplied to groups within the

scheme where they have a common requirement (cycle length and location). Each group

26 The anomaly of deemed permit holders outside the scheme receiving augmentation water is explained as

administrative oversight at the time the scheme was first set up and landowners within the scheme area were

required to surrender their deemed permits (G. Cruchley, pers. comm.). Others are outside the scheme. Another

Central Otago irrigation scheme, the Falls Dam Irrigation Company, manages the Falls Dam to provide

supplementary flows in the Manuherikia River to maintain minimum flows. Irrigators take water at intervals

along the river subject to rules of the Company and agreements with some deemed permit holders who also take

water for irrigation. In contrast to the Maniototo scheme the deemed permit holders have been brought into the overall Falls scheme.

Landcare Research

shares what is referred to a „multiple‟ of water and the various multiples are intended to „fit‟

within the total volume contained in the race. The objective is to smooth demand and avoid

doubling up of multiples, which requires use of stored water. It is a complex exercise and

inevitably some spikes in demand still occur. Each irrigator receives a copy of the roster,

showing the date and time that they may take water, how much water has been taken to date

and how much is available for the remainder of the season.

Intensified land use accompanied irrigation development, and dairying is increasing season

by season. The original scheme design provided for subsidised on-farm development of a

specified area of land. It was expected that the amount of water required to supply that land

would be between 5600 m³ and 7500 m³ per annum. When the scheme was completed using

private capital in the late 1980s there was no subsidy for on-farm development and the limit

on area was abandoned in favour of an allocation of water by volume, i.e. one share no longer

equated to one hectare, but 7500 m³ of water per annum.

Under the original scenario it was common for an irrigator to use as little as 6000 m³ per

annum, but now it is usual for the full allocation to be used but over a greater area. This has

increased demand and strained storage resources, hence the move to raise the dam level.

Nonetheless raising the dam does not solve the problem because it rarely fills to the spill crest

– but it has a small beneficial effect.

There are two power stations within the irrigation, scheme owned and operated by Trust

Power. The power stations use the run of the river through the winter, with the Paerau station

passing all irrigation flows through the summer, during which time the Pateoroa station is

normally shut down, i.e. during the irrigation season water for generation is limited to that

taken for irrigation. During the winter the power scheme operates using its own consent to

divert water through the headworks.

There is an uncomfortable misalignment of objectives between Trust Power and the Irrigation

Company, which causes some difficulty for the Maniototo Irrigation Company (MIC) as co-

owner/operators of the headworks. This is partly due to the different respective objectives of

Trust Power, – to maximise revenue through generation from hydro schemes; and MIC – to

support multiple/wider objectives in sustainable land use and maintenance of viable local

communities. Furthermore each of the parties have different approaches to payment. MIC is

obliged to pay one-third of the operation and maintenance of shared works. Trust Power

applies a „cost plus‟ approach while MIC applies „user pays‟, where the payment is a charge

on users. This uneasy partnership was brought about by the forced sale of the hydro facility

by the co-operative Otago Power Board to Trust Power as a result of the electricity reforms.

MIC Chairman Geoff Crutchley describes the involvement of Trust Power as „the Achilles

heel of the system‟, being the only part over which the irrigation company does not have

control.



The Maniototo Irrigation Company continues to develop. As part of a Water Infrastructure

Forum in Christchurch in 2008, Geoff Crutchley (Chair of MIC) gave a presentation which

included a summary of the challenges the company had faced and the lessons learnt along the

way with regards aspects of the water infrastructure for the scheme itself, the allocation and

supply of water, engagement between scheme members and with other groups and land use27

.

5.6 Summary

The water sharing schemes and the water management groups described above are distinctly

different. In this section we mapped the landscape of water sharing schemes that have

developed in Canterbury and Otago. These characteristics are summarised in Table 4

illustrating the diversity in the origins of the schemes but that there are similarities in the

types of rostering and sources of water supply.

27 From presentation to Water Infrastructure Forum in December 2008 http://www.maf.govt.nz/mafnet/rural-nz/sustainable-resource-use/irrigation/water-infrastructure-forum/presentation-07.pdf

Table 4 Characteristics of Water Schemes

Scheme Origins Type of entity Storage? Water sharing arrangements

Water supply Use of technologies

Te Ngawai with arrangements for the water consent holders arising from an Environment Court decision. 5 irrigators issued with consents by ECAN with restrictions to limit take as river flows reduced

Informal group meets annually with elected chair to liaise with regulator

No water storage Operates on total take allowing rostering arrangements amongst the group. No rostering of water takes, unless water abstraction restrictions are in place by regional council

River or hydraulically connected groundwater in nearby gravels as per consent

Telemetry trial to relay information to ECan

Ashburton–Lyndhurst

Developed by Ministry of Works & Development in 1944

Largest of RDR scheme Designed for border dyke irrigation

Large scheme supplied from the Rangitata Diversion Race. Long history involving government capital.

Laying pipes to reduce losses & extend scheme coverage

Limited liability company with permanent staff

Some on-farm water storage and exploration of options for a dam for water storage

Water take from the rivers is rostered both for normal water delivery and when restrictions are in place

MWD water supply agreement

Receives water from the Rangitata Diversion Race. Good supply in average years.



Opuha Farmer led scheme with cornerstone investor & $1million government contribution.

Developed in response to overallocation of water and unreliable water supply for irrigation

Partnership of 2 irrigation entities (a limited liability company & incorporated society).

Opuha Environmental Flow Release Advisory Group can agree & act to vary dam release

Dam-impounded storage of water for release into the rivers to augment natural flows.

Irrigators have agreed water supply arrangements at times of normal flows & when restrictions are in place.

Irrigators required to report flow rates

Allocations agreed through WSA that require flow rates to be reported

Water released from dam allowing for more reliable extraction for irrigation & maintenance of environmental flows

Kakanui KAC established by Otago Regional Water Board to manage group of takes to maintain minimum flows

an early Environment Court driven arrangement involving water consent holders & community.

Comprises 5 members elected by water-take consent holders, elected chairperson

KAC subcommittee of ORC regulatory committee with requirement to meet LGA operational standard.

Twice yearly meetings between scheme and stakeholders

No water storage No rostering of water takes, unless water abstraction restrictions are in place by regional council

River or hydraulically connected groundwater in nearby gravels as per consent

Online river flow information guides restriction decisions by committee chair. Information availability hampered by incomplete meter telemetry & poor cell phone coverage,.



Maniototo Last of the government schemes taken over by the landowners in a partially complete state in 1984.

3 independent limited liability irrigation companies own the operating company

Dam-impounded storage of water for release into the rivers to augment natural flows.

Irrigators have agreed water supply arrangements at times of normal flows & when restrictions are in place.

Water released from dam allowing for more reliable extraction for irrigation & maintenance of environmental flows


Page 27 Landcare Research

6 Conditions for success for water sharing schemes

There are many drivers of irrigation development involving water sharing schemes and these

are specific to local contexts as illustrated in the case studies. Modern farming is complex

with increasing reliance on water, combined with growing competition for water resources.

This has resulted in efforts for innovative, more collaborative management approaches that

traditional formal and regulatory approaches find hard to deliver. The pressures associated

with the expiration of mining permits in Otago and the issuing and monitoring of compliance

of resource consents in Canterbury have created opportunities for irrigators to collaborate

with each other and with stakeholders with benefits in terms of developing new water

management regimes, reducing compliance costs, and creating positive relationships with

regulators and other stakeholders. Our analysis of interviews with irrigation scheme members

and individuals from various organisations involved in administrative or stakeholder

relationships with them have identified factors that are necessary for the effective operation

of these water sharing schemes and other collaborative water management initiatives,

namely:

Community-based leadership

Local identity

Shared knowledge

Reliable and up-to-date information

Good relationships with regulators

6.1 Community-based leadership

The importance of good leadership for effective governance is self-evident and its source is

important. These people are not elected representatives but more informal leaders who sit on

school boards of trustees, sports clubs, and other community bodies. In all cases studied one

individual or a small group of people have „put their hand up‟ to take a decision or to guide or

lead a group to a decision that has been important for the development or smooth operation of

the irrigation scheme. This may have been at a formative stage (Te Ngawai, Maniototo, and

Opuha) and/or at some later stage where circumstances offered or required some leadership

(Kakanui, Ashburton–Lyndhurst).

Effective leaders tend to be most effect when they originate from the community and have

support from some regulatory authority (e.g. central or local government). Any group‟s

operation many be assisted or hampered by alternative roles of support and encouragement or

lack of it from the regulator. The leader adds credibility to the group and this helps with the

engagement with community and regulator. When leadership is not exercised there is a risk

that collective activity falls away, as appears to be the case recently in Te Ngawai group as

they pursue individual storage arrangements.



6.2 Local identity

Water sharing schemes have unique local identities. Where landowners/irrigators have a

strong sense of place and identify with an area, its history and its land and rivers, governance

arrangements and management decisions relating to that place and those resources are more

likely to reflect the long-term needs of the community. This sense of community born out of

multi-generational connection with the land is a strong basis for producing community

leadership and confidence to embark on new relationships with „outsiders‟ with respect for

land and water management (e.g. Opuha and Maniototo). Such sense of place and

identification with the area can be experienced by others, such as recreational users of the

rivers, and this shared sense of place creates a foundation for partnership amongst various

interest groups to pursue common goals.

The changing composition of actors involved in irrigation schemes with regards different

purposes for water schemes (such as irrigation and power generation) or the changing

ownership of farms create some tensions in water sharing schemes. Different actors have

varying motivations to participate in schemes creating tension that needs to be addressed.

For example, the involvement of power companies, especially when irrigation-related power

assets change hands, has led to tension in the operation of water schemes (e.g. Maniototo)

due to a perceived lack of knowledge of the local community and focus on profit targets from

power generation. Multi-generational ownership of farms can be a source of caution when

seeking to innovate (e.g. Ashburton–Lyndhurst). The arrival of new owners without local

history and with different farming experience can threaten or destabilise both internal and

external relationships at least in the short term (Te Ngawai and Maniototo).

6.3 Shared knowledge and development of trust

Fundamental to effective governance of the schemes is the need for all stakeholders to have a

good understanding of issues and concerns, i.e. shared knowledge of the different aspects that

bear upon the scheme, such as climate and weather, land use (and misuse), hydrology and

water quality, ecology and recreational use of the river and its surrounds. This aspect is the

most visible and common to the case studies and the regional ad hoc arrangements and

includes recognition of the values of the local iwi. Together with shared experiences, sharing

knowledge contributes to the building of trust over time. It has been reported that it takes at

least eighteen months as the span for meetings, information sharing and discussion to deliver

marked benefits in compromise and concession28

across three of the schemes featured above,

such as the Upper Taieri Water Resource Management Group who understand the benefit of

collective experience and shared knowledge and are using a process that ensures this to

achieve consensus for the future of their catchment.

In an examination of drivers and barriers to water transfer in the Opuha Irrigation Scheme,

Lange et al. (2008) identify good access to information and central administration as being

aspects of the scheme that give openness and transparency. They believe this is effective for

water rights transfers, the subject of their study, and our interviews indicate that it is equally

so for the overall smooth management and good governance of the schemes. Their work also

28 McGuigan, Crossman, Ulrich, pers. comm.



records trust in the administrator of the scheme and consideration of fairness and equity

issues in resource allocation as important, noting it is not easy.

The thoughtful folk behind the Upper Taieri Water Resource Management Group understand

the benefit of collective experience and shared knowledge and are using a process that

ensures this to achieve consensus for the future of their catchment.

6.4 Reliable and up-to-date information

The increased sophistication of farming systems and the need to meet contracted crop or milk

production has heightened the need for a reliable supply of water. Reliable water supply and

efficient water use for irrigation requires precise, timely and trend-informed information. But

the same high standards need to be demanded of regional councils if irrigators and

stakeholders are to have confidence in the ecological information that underpins sustainable

environmental flow decisions.

Metered water use is fundamental for the former as is telemetry to collect the information.

Telemetry of water data makes onsite readings unnecessary and therefore reduces ongoing

compliance monitoring costs. Water use data can also be integrated with other data such as

from low-flow sites, climate, and soil moisture and temperature data. Integration of such data

can be used as an effective on-farm management tool to reduce overall running costs.

6.5 Good relationships with regulators

Positive relationships with the regulators are characteristic of well-operating irrigation

schemes. Trust is an issue too. In some ways it is hard to imagine two more disparate groups

of people than farmers and regulators. There is a significant challenge of establishing and

maintaining empathy and trust between the individualistic and self-reliant farmers and the

rule and regulation focused regional council. However, when field officers are involved (such

as those from the Resource Care team at ECan and the Land Resources team at Otago

Regional Council) relationships are strengthening. Once built, relationships are easily

damaged by the irresponsible action of a single irrigator or the thoughtless actions of an

overzealous compliance officer. Across each of the schemes and sub-regional water

management groups we find evidence of the changing nature of relationships between

regulators and farmers which are supported by the use of forums, ongoing communication

and activities that support collaborative responses to water management challenges.



7 Discussion

Demand for water for irrigation continues and the development of water sharing schemes are

under investigation in many regions responding to drivers such as the need for more reliable

water supply and changing land use. While the characteristics of each of the schemes are

different in terms of the origins of the schemes and how they operate, this research has

identified a range of conditions that are integral to the ongoing development of schemes and

strengthening of internal relationships between irrigators in the scheme, and external

relationships with regulators and possibly others (such as those in the irrigation and

agriculture industries, stakeholders and central government agencies. These relationships, or

their absence, are most critical when water sharing schemes and arrangements are being

developed.

Relationships are vital for schemes and extend beyond individuals in water sharing schemes

and regulators to customers (domestic and international), financiers and others. The degree of

direct involvement by certain actors is likely to change over time and with regard to various

issues, but a common point is the emphasis on collaboration and partnership leading to a

strengthening of trust and understanding which will be beneficial for future development of

schemes, including those that have yet to be built. That the leaders are trusted individuals is

well evident in the governance of the Kakanui and Opuha operations where individual

irrigators, and in some cases other stakeholders, are comfortable with decisions being taken

on their behalf. The common experiences and shared information build trust in the Kakanui

situation and have allowed stakeholder groups to agree to reducing meeting frequency and

putting in apologies for some meetings. At the early stages of the Opuha scheme and the

extension of the Maniototo development, trusted relationships with stakeholders enabled

effective arrangements to be made for the operation of schemes with little trouble or concern.

The case studies presented here indicate that there is a range of ways water sharing schemes

can develop with regards to the particular organisational form (e.g. limited company or

informal group) in relation to their origins and characteristics and how the schemes engage

with regulators and other stakeholders in the region. It would be useful to complement this

initial scoping study with a comprehensive study of the developments of other water user

groups, such as those in Hawks Bay, that are exploring ways to deliver irrigation. Such a

study could examine the impacts on governance and operation of the water sharing schemes

arising from the changing relationships with the regulator stemming from changes in

monitoring and on the management of external relationships in the context of drivers such as

increased demand for water.

7.1 Other institutional responses

The importance of relationships and trust in water management are being reiterated in other

institutional responses in both regions. As introduced in section 4, regional councils in

Canterbury and Otago are establishing a statutory and administrative basis for community

responses to water management through strategy programmes: the Canterbury Water

Management Strategy and the Otago Regional Plan: Water.



The Canterbury Water Management Strategy29

has adopted a frame of „nested‟ levels30

of

decision making where systems aim to align the management of the biophysical system with

the socio-economic system (Canterbury Mayoral Forum 2009), so that the management of

water take and use involves ensuring that the biophysical area includes the source of water

and the area of water use in the one decision-making zone and that all of the stakeholder

interests with respect to the take and use of water are involved in the decision making. Those

involved in decision making need to include both the users of water and users of the river.

Following the principle of subsidiarity, decisions made at the lowest level possible and that

include the relevant biophysical area and the relevant stakeholders.

In Otago, where a statutory water plan has been in place since 2004, the regional council has

focused its activities through an effective consultative process leading to the introduction of

arrangements through amendments to the plan (Proposed Plan Change 1C (Water Allocation

and Use). In contrast to water allocation committees, which are to allocate water, the

proposed water management groups would be formed voluntarily by consent holders within a

catchment. A water management group may undertake a range of functions, not just

rationing, and would need to be approved by the Otago Regional Council for it to have any

effect in terms of the Water Plan. They are envisioned to operate at catchment or sub-

catchment level with the water management groups holding consent subject to rules

(arrangements) for the use of water to meet environmental flows and other consent

conditions. The Otago Regional Council scheme provides for situations where a catchment

may have holders of mining privileges due to terminate in 2021 and RMA consent holders

with expiry dates beyond that time.

Alongside resource management plans, regional councils have supported the establishment of

groups that address inter-sectoral management issues around water use and are of a voluntary

and collaborative nature. These informal and ad hoc groups have some characteristics of

voluntary water management schemes but encompass land use and ecological and

recreational interests as well. Table 5 describes two examples of sub-regional water

management groups as further illustrations of ways that groups are working together in

response to water management challenges31

. These responses led by regional councils sit

alongside responses that are located on-farm or in water sharing schemes such as „audited

self-management‟ which involves water sharing organisations developing collective

monitoring arrangements to be verified by a third party rather than direct monitoring of all

individual consents by the regional council.

29 The Canterbury Water Management Strategy is the region‟s response to the water management and planning

that has been in development for almost a decade and was . The strategy was published in November 2009 after

nearly a decade development. 30 This approach builds on the concept of „nested systems‟ of decision making based on the work of Gunderson

and Holling (2002) and collaborative governance or self-managed community concepts for managing common resources of Ostrom (1990). 31 The development of community water management has been discussed in a recent workshop hosted by the

Upper Taieri Water Resource Management Project and the Sustainable Farming Fund and the findings are in a

summary report (see Newman & Robertson (2010) „Community-led Water Resource Management: what have

we learnt and where are we at?‟ http://www.landcare.org.nz/user-content/2272-community-water-workshop-

summary-report.pdf)

http://www.landcare.org.nz/user-content/2272-community-water-workshop-summary-report.pdf


Table 3 Examples of sub-regional water management groupsz

Name Origins Operation & Characteristics Objective Parties Practices

South Canterbury Water Enhancement Group32

Informal, established by ECan in 2002. The group was called together by open invitation following some years of complaints to the regional council and letters to the press about water use and river flows.

An independent, voluntary, multidisciplinary group facilitated by ECan

The group has been non-threatening in its attitude and even-handed in its evaluation of the science sought from, and provided by ECan.

This science, combined with common sense provides the guiding principles for issue resolution by the group.

The strength of the group is in the ability to bring together widely differing opinion in order to reach a consensus on enhancement of water resources for economic and recreational purposes, and ecological values.

To speed the process towards the recovery of water quality in South Canterbury, and to provide a forum to discuss all aspects of water.

An atmosphere of co-operation exists around the committee table and members have relished the opportunity to inspect sites and question expert speakers. The real value of the group is the willingness of participants to speak openly and frankly about concerns.

Fish & Game

Opuha Dam Company

Recreationalists

Local territorial authorities

Farmers/Irrigators

Rarowhenua Rūnanga

Department of Conservation

Water Management Consultants

Farm consultants

Federated Farmers

Forest & Bird

Trust Power

Previously chaired by the ECan Councillor representing the area until the council was replaced by Commissioners earlier in 2010.

At the first meeting approximately 50 people agreed to form a committee.

Committee meets three or four times a year.

Public meetings on water matters arising from central or regional government activities are held.

32 Details from Pers Comm J. Crossman (Staff member of Environment Canterbury)

Name Origins Operation & Characteristics Objective Parties Practices

Upper Taieri Water Resource Management Group

Formed in the Upper Taieri in 2007 using a Sustainable Farming Fund grant from the Ministry for Agriculture and Fisheries to fund a project to improve the health of the Taieri River’s waterways.

The Upper Taieri Group’s website notes ‘the defining difference between the project and previous projects is the concept of “community’ extends beyond irrigation interests’ and further that it ‘was established to encourage dialogue between diverse community interests33’.

The project’s aim was to redesign the catchment’s diverse and fragmented water management system. It operated in two stages, initially to derive and gain multi-stakeholder support for a ‘future-focused’ water allocation and management regime and then working with community stakeholders and environmental bottom lines to determine fair, sustainable allocation regimes.

The project is led by the (UTWRMG) that was formed to encourage dialogue between diverse community interests and ‘plan how to best manage water using more efficient, flexible and co-ordinated long-term approaches’.

Irrigators’ representatives

Department of Conservation

Otago Fish & Game

Otago Regional Council

Central Otago District Council.

Chaired by Maniototo farmer and irrigator Geoff Crutchley and co-ordinated by a staff member of the NZ Landcare Trust.

ORC has encouraged and supported the group and involved it in its work developing methods for managing water allocation when the current rules change.

Promoting community-based water management the group through discussion forums, conducting several public field days and events in the catchment to enable discussion on current water use, distribution, values and management.

33 See Sustainable Farming Fund & Landcare Trust „The Upper Taieri Project: Redefining Upper Taieri Water Allocation & Management for Whole of Community Good‟

Available at http://www.landcare.org.nz/user-content/1659-upper-tairei-project-aims.pdf (Accessed 30 July 201)

http://www.landcare.org.nz/user-content/1659-upper-tairei-project-aims.pdf



7.2 Insights from Social Capital

While the water sharing schemes, water allocation committees, water zone committees and

the sub-regional water management groups identified in earlier sections are different, all

appear to indicate the emergence and establishment of collaborative and voluntary forms of

action whether at a scheme, catchment or sub-regional scale. This has led us to consider what

theoretical perspectives could over some insights into further examination of how

relationships related to the development and operation to schemes can be forged and

strengthened.

The theory of social capital is relevant and helpful in understanding these conditions for

success. Social capital understood to be „networks, together with shared norms, values and

understandings which facilitate cooperation within or among groups‟ (OECD 2001) appears

to offer a useful lens in which to examine how collective groups can work collaboratively in

response to water management challenges34

. In a useful synthesis of different definitions, the

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2002) records that there is general agreement on the

importance of networks, trust, reciprocity and other social norms to social capital.

Shared social norms such as reciprocity together with trust enable those in a community to more easily communicate, cooperate and to make sense of common experiences. Trust has an important role in reducing social and business ‘transaction’ costs. Tolerance of different beliefs and cultures also stem from shared norms that imply tolerance, acceptance and respect. Reciprocity encourages the individual to balance their own self interest with the good of the community.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2002)

Pretty and Ward (2001) demonstrate how social capital embedded in participating groups

within rural communities has been central to equitable and sustainable solutions to local

development problems. They observe that local institutions of this type are effective because

they allow normal activity with a minimum of repetition and „costly negotiation‟ to facilitate

co-operation and gain confidence to invest in collective activities (p. 212). Furthermore, the

authors suggest that social capital amongst communities means that individuals are less likely

to engage in „unfettered private actions that result in negative impacts, such as resource

degradation.‟ (p. 211). The authors identified four central aspects of social capital in relation

to the management of natural resources as follows:

Relations of trust

Reciprocity and exchange

Common rules, norms and sanctions, and

Connectedness, networks and groups

34 See for example Pretty and Ward (2001) and McCallum et al. (2007).



The leaders of schemes are trusted individuals as demonstrated in the governance of the

Kakanui and Opuha schemes. In both these examples, individual irrigators and in some cases

other stakeholders are comfortable with decisions being taken on their behalf. The common

experiences and shared information build trust in the Kakanui situation allowing stakeholder

groups to agree to reducing meeting frequency and putting in apologies for some meetings.

At the early stages of the Opuha scheme and the extension of the Maniototo development,

trusted relationships with stakeholders enabled effective arrangements to be made for the

operation of schemes with little trouble or concern. Trust relations are central to the

effective operation of water sharing schemes. This issue arose in many of the interviews and

was a central theme in relationships both within the schemes with regards relations between

irrigation schemes members and their leaders, and with external stakeholders, such as

regulators or the wider community.

Drawing our initial insights from ideas of social capital and reflecting on the case studies

above, we find that trust relations are central to the effective operation of water sharing

schemes. This issue arose in many of the interviews and was a central theme in relationships

between members, between members and their leaders, and between the scheme and external

stakeholders. Trust relations are also important in the development phases to lay the platform

for compromise and consensus building towards the consenting process.

The consideration of trust relations sits alongside the other aspects of social capital, and

further analysis of the development of water sharing schemes featured in this report, plus

possibly insights from similar developments in other parts of New Zealand would be

beneficial to consider the relevance of social capital literature to ongoing action for water

sharing and possibly with regards broader aspects of water management.

8 Conclusions

The research has identified a range of development pathways for water sharing schemes from

those that originated from historic mining rights to others that were formed in response to

Environment Court decisions. Trust relations within schemes and with others, particularly

regulators, are increasingly important especially as there is a move from regulation to

collaboration for the management of New Zealand‟s water resources.

Further research could examine

Development pathways of water user groups in other parts of the country

Impacts of changing nature of relationships between schemes and regulators, such as in

relation to monitoring of water abstraction, influences the development of water sharing

schemes

Linkages between the development of water sharing schemes with other collaborative

responses to water management and how such collaboration will be supported by

government agencies, regulators and the irrigation industry.



9 Acknowledgements

We thank the many individuals in New Zealand who have been so generous in providing

information and insights: Lucy Blakmore (Timaru), Craig Briggs (Hamilton), George Brown

(Ashburton), Julia Crossman (Timaru), Geoff Crutchley (Maniototo), Kim Drummond

(Christchurch), Janine Dunlop (Hawke‟s Bay), Jay Graybill (Temuka), Terry Heiler (West

Melton), Bryan Jenkins (Christchurch), John Laing (Kakanui), Wayne McGuigan

(Christchurch), Susie McKeague (Dunedin), Ray McNally (Kakanui), Dale Meredith

(Dunedin), Mike O‟Connor (Kakanui), Nic Newman (Christchurch), Phil Reid (Rangiora),

Peter Scott (Kerrytown), Graeme Sutton (Richmond), Herstell Ulrich (Cave), John van

Palonan (Whitcombe), John Young (Ashburton).

Thanks also to the organisations: Irrigation New Zealand, Environment Canterbury and

Otago Regional Council.

Financial support is acknowledged from the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science

and Technology under the „Old problems, new solutions‟ project (C09X0702).

Any errors of fact or interpretation are ours alone.

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