Water scheme vital to town’s future

Press, 12 April 1979, Page 1

Water scheme vital to town’s future

The future of Culverden hangs in the balance as it waits to hear whether an $8 0 0,0 0 0 stockwater scheme will receive a Government subsidy. The piped stockwater scheme is only part of a development that could see the town increase by half its present size, and the number of neighbouring farms grow as larger blocks are subdivided and farmers increase their stock numbers. The key to all the expansion is the Waiau irrigation scheme, with which the piped stockwater scheme is related. Irrigation of an area that has been hit hard by droughts in recent years is expected to result in more stock being put on the land. All paddocks will be serviced by the scheme, making subdivision easier and more attractive. However, the existing open water-races which supply all stockwater could not cope with the expected expansion, and the benefits of the irrigation scheme may be wasted on the county if the new piped stockwater scheme does not meet Government approval.

The Amuri County Council was all set to go ahead with its stockwater scheme, before its chairman (Mr A. A. Macfarlane) told the council last week that he had failed to gain the approval of the Minister of Works (Mr W. L. Young). Pipes and pumps had been ordered from Christchurch, and a contract had been let with a Culverden firm for laying the pipes. A 360,000 litre reservoir stands almost completed, high and dry in the hills north of the "township. The contracts that have been let will have to be postponed. The County Clerk (Mr B. J. Peters) hopes that they will not have to be cancelled. The uncertainty which surrounds the stock-water plans also affects the irrigation scheme. The Ministry of Works and Development has been working on the irrigation channels since October, 1977, and where the channels cross the water-races, temporary crossings have been built. They may have to be converted into permanent fixtures.

The bill for this work would run into hundreds of thousands of dollars,

according to the District Commissioner of Works (Mr P. F. Reynolds). The original estimate for the irrigation scheme in 1976 was $11.4M, and the Ministry has kept “fairly closely” to that figure. A ray of hope shines however. The Cabinet works committee will meet on April 27, and the stock-water scheme may be accepted as a new work then. If so, finances will still have to wait for the Budget. The scheme is estimated to cost $BOO,OOO. Approval to raise a loan of $200,000 was granted in December, and an application for a subsidy of $200,000 was submitted for off-farm work. The council is waiting for this application to be approved. Thirty-seven farms covering 11,500 ha will be supplied.

“The technicalities of the scheme have been approved locally; everything has been done locally that has been possible,” says Mr Reynolds. The problem lies in persuading the Government to undertake what is a new work, although locals regard the scheme as essential to the whole irrigation system.