Replacement consent for the Mayfield Hinds Valetta (MHV) irrigation scheme was granted after an independent commissioner released a decision last week.
The Mayfield Hinds Valetta (MHV) irrigation scheme will service more than 50,000 hectares of private farmland for up to the next 10 years
Photo: SUPPLIED/ MHV Water
The 10-year consent is subject to a series of conditions, including a 15 percent reduction in nitrogen losses by 2025 and 25 percent by 2030, auditing of farm environment plans, monitoring ground and surface water quality and remediation and response plans.
Environment Canterbury (ECan) can review the consent if improvements are unable to be achieved. This consent is granted on the basis that the significant adverse cumulative effects on the receiving environment will be reduced and there will be measurable environmental improvements within the consent term, the hearing commissioner s report states.
Controversial irrigation scheme will hold farmers to account
27 Apr, 2021 04:21 AM
3 minutes to read
The Mayfield Hinds Valetta (MHV) irrigation scheme will service more than 50,000ha of private farmland for up to the next 10 years. Photo / MHV Water
The Mayfield Hinds Valetta (MHV) irrigation scheme will service more than 50,000ha of private farmland for up to the next 10 years. Photo / MHV Water
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By Adam Burns, Local Democracy Reporter
The boss of a water co-operative in Mid-Canterbury believes the onus is on its farmers after a controversial irrigation scheme renewal was given the go-ahead.
Replacement consent for the Mayfield Hinds Valetta (MHV) irrigation scheme was granted after an independent commissioner released a decision last week.
Summer irrigation in Canterbury (File photo).
Photo: RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
An independent commissioner is to consider the MHV water cooperative s bid for a replacement consent to irrigate 56,000 hectares of private farmland for the next 10 years.
However, opponents feared higher levels of nitrate would be discharged, which they said could affect drinking water.
The public cannot make submissions, because they were able to do so as part of the original consent process.
But environmental group Aotearoa Water Action believed their views should be taken into account when the replacement consent is considered, too, and said there was a case to challenge that.