Be part of the discussion about the future of water in the Arrow and Wakatipu Basin area.
The Arrow River catchment and the Wakatipu Basin aquifers form part of the Dunstan Rohe. A lot of work has already been done with this community on values and objectives as part of the process to manage water in the river and Basin.
We want to build on the great work the community did in recent years to establish values for the Arrow River catchment and Wakatipu Basin aquifers.
You said you treasure the Arrow’s amenity values: the clear water, scenic surrounds and recreational opportunities. You also identified the need for a reliable, good quality supply of water for community and irrigation use, which when taken, does not degrade the river’s natural values.
As part of the Water Plan review, we came back to the Arrow catchment community in 2019 to find out if the values previously identified were still relevant, and whether any community members had new values to add. Read the results of this consultation here.
We are taking a new approach to deliver minimum flow water plan changes to the Arrow, Manuherikia and Upper Cardrona catchments. Up to this point, we have been consulting with the community on these plan changes on an individual catchment basis. The new approach will see ORC bring this work together to notify a single plan change.
You can see all the current information on the Minimum Flow plan changes on our 'Your Say' site - http://yoursay.orc.govt.nz
Otago Regional Council is developing a change to Otago’s Regional Water Plan (Water Plan) to manage water in the Arrow catchment and Wakatipu Basin aquifers.
The purpose of this plan change is to set minimum flows and water allocation limits for the Arrow catchment and to manage the amount of water in the nine Wakatipu Basin aquifers.
The proposed plan change is required by the National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management (the NPSFM). The NPSFM requires council to set environmental flows and/or levels for all freshwater management units within its region. The Water Plan makes provision for the setting of minimum flows and allocation limits on rivers within a catchment and the setting of allocation limits and restriction levels for water in aquifers.
The changes we make to the Water Plan will be informed by the NPSFM, by environmental, economic, cultural, social, and planning assessments, and with input from the community and people affected by any potential changes.
Before we notify the proposed plan change to the Water Plan, we will be holding a series of community consultation sessions. The feedback we receive from the community will help us to develop the plan change.
Following initial community consultation in June and the feedback received, we developed options for managing water in the catchment and aquifers, and consulted on these options in December 2017. We held three information sessions in Arrowtown and Frankton, and sought feedback up until the 26 January 2018.
A summary of the feedback we received at the consultation sessions and during the feedback period is provided below.
Arrow Catchment and Wakatipu Basin aquifers Summary of Feedback - Consultation January 2018
In June 2017 we started the first of three stages of public consultation which help shape the development of the plan change for the Arrow catchment and Wakatipu Basin aquifers Integrated Water Management. We asked people to identify what they value about water in the catchment and what was important to them. A summary of the feedback received at the consultation sessions and during the feedback period is provided below.
Arrow catchment and Wakatipu Basin aquifers Summary of Feedback – Consultation June 2017 (834 KB)