Ashburton Courier: April 29, 2021

www.ashburtoncourier.co.nz
Consent brings relief, hard work
The Mayfield Hinds Valetta
(MHV) irrigation scheme’s
application for aconsent
renewal made the news alot
over the past couple of months,
with strong voices on both sides
of the argument.
Unfortunately, the issue has
been subject to exaggerations
and misunderstandings.
The Ashburton Water Zone
Committee wants to reflect the
public’s wide range of views on
our waterways. But first we
need to sort the facts from the
fiction.
MHV takes water from the
Rangitata Diversion Race and
provides it to farms between
the Rangitata and Ashburton
Rivers through its network of
races and pipes.
It is subject to minimum flow
conditions on the river, and in
many cases, has allowed
irrigators to stop aquiferdepleting
groundwater
extraction.
MHV’s consent to discharge
nutrients covers all the farms
that operate under its scheme.
That’s more than 50,000
hectares of Mid Canterbury
farmland.
While it may be true
technically that this consent
allows for more nitrogen
discharge than any other single
consent, that’s afunction of the
number of farms it covers.
If the MHV consent was not
renewed, each individual farm
currently covered by the
consent would have to apply for
its own consent to discharge
nutrients. This would be much
more difficult to monitor for
compliance, and not result in
any net benefit.
Resource consent is required
when aland use has a
significant detrimental effect
on the environment. We need to
be clear: fertiliser use does
have adetrimental effect, when
compared to leaving the land
bare. But for farmers, and the
wider Ashburton economy,
that’s not afeasible option.
The reality is that intensive
farming exists in our zone, and
farmers are now required to
reduce their rate of fertiliser
use to minimise that impact. In
the majority of cases farmers
are already doing this, which
we hope will lead to an
improvement in freshwater
quality.
The MHV consent is how we
manage those requirements
and measure their effects.
When the Ashburton Water
Zone Committee was
established, we quickly
realised that the Hinds/Hekeao
plains was aproblem area for
nitrate in groundwater.
Unfortunately, nitrate levels
in the area, and much of the
wider Ashburton zone, are
among the highest in the
country. You can find arisk
map for nitrate in Ashburton
drinking water on the
Community and Public Health
website, and the LAWA website
has information on
groundwater nitrate. The
picture in our zone isn’t pretty.
That’s why we worked with
council to advise on Plan
Change 2(PC2) to the Land and
Water Regional Plan, setting a
target nitrate­nitrogen
concentration of 6.9 mg/L in
shallow groundwater.
To achieve this target,
farmers in the catchment must
reduce nitrogen losses by 15
per cent by 2025, 25 per cent by
2030 and 36 per cent by 2035.
But we need to recognise that
human health is not the only
factor here. High nitrate levels
in surface water are threat to
freshwater ecosystems.
The hundreds of farmers who
are part of the MHV scheme
will be relieved by the decision
to grant consent renewal. It
gives them certainty that they
will be able to continue with
their livelihood.
I’m also pleased this new
consent requires MHV not only
to work with farmers to reduce
nitrogen inputs, but to show
actual downstream
improvement to the streams
and groundwater of the Hinds/
Hekeao plains. Those
reduction targets are now
legally binding for MHV
scheme members.
Simply said, it gives MHV
time to demonstrate that
reducing nitrogen leaching is
sufficient to reduce nitrate
levels in the water. If it can’t
show that improvement, then
greater reductions will be
required.
This decision is the result of
people with diverse interests
working together towards a
common goal of improving
freshwater quality.
Our work to ensure that
freshwater systems continue to
support us and local
ecosystems now and into the
future will continue. We can
best do that by listening to each
other’s concerns and working
constructively together.
Nitrate test results to be shared with community
MHV Water is testing water
from 140 wells to track farmers’
progress in reducing nitrate
leaching.
Sampling had been
conducted since 2016 and in
recent years had shown a
downward trend in the median
nitrate concentration, MHV
Water CEO Mel Brooks said.
The well testing regime was
likely the biggest of its type in
the country, the Ashburton
Water Zone Committee was told
this week. Wells were on farms
inside and outside the
irrigation company’s supply
area.
Farmers were on board and
wanting to know what was
happening, Mrs Brooks said.
Testing results showed a
downward trend since
September 2019 in nitrates. The
median was now 7.6.
“It has been ajourney for the
Hinds plains but we have seen a
material change in farming
practices over that time. Ithink
this is good but we are
cautiously optimistic.’’
MHV will be sharing the data,
which has been peer reviewed,
with farmers and the wider
community.
“It has been areally
challenging time for us over the
last month with the way we
have been portrayed in the
media. We have been working
hard on how we can do things
differently. Our farmers have
been really proactive in that
space.’’
Under conditions of the
renewed discharge consent,
MHV has alimited window to
show continued improvements
in environmental outcomes, not
just reduced nitrate leaching.
The renewal process which
began in 2018 had been long,
complex and evolved to adapt
to new freshwater framework,
Mrs Brooks said after the
decision was released last
week.
Many stories from opponents
had been sensationalised and
inflammatory, which had been
difficult to digest.
However, many others had
reached out and offered
support, she said.
Shareholder farmers would
continue to work together and
the company was intending to
extend public invitations to
community meetings to provide
details of targets and progress
to help people understand what
farmers were doing.
NEWS
Ashburton Courier, April 29, 2021
17
Farms
in new
group
Eiffelton farmers will meet
on May 10 to form a
catchment group aimed at
improving their
environmental efforts and
mental health.
Dairy farmer Duncan Barr
said catchment groups were
the way of the future for
farmers as they brought
about change in their
particular areas.
Catchment groups were
given the thumbs up by
members of the Ashburton
Water Zone Committee at
their meeting this week.
Committee member Angela
Cushnie said 30 farmers at
Eiffelton had already tested
the water about forming a
catchment group in their
area. Asteering group had
been formed and a
community meeting was
called for May 10.
Mr Barr said some farmers
were disengaging in the face
of hate groups and high level
political rhetoric. But there
was no future in that and a
collaborative approach was
needed.
Farmers are practical
people, who see aproblem
and want to sort it. “A lot of
people are disengaged so
don’t know where to start.”
Catchment groups already
exist in neighbouring water
zones and they are willing to
share their experiences.
Mr Barr said he saw
changing farming practices
to reduce nitrate leaching as
an opportunity, not the end
of dairying on the plains.
Individual farmers needed to
band together in their shared
geographical areas to access
funding, share ideas and
encourage each other.
Mrs Cushnie said the
volume of information
around biodiversity and farm
environment improvements
was overwhelming for some.
Farmers didn’t know where
to start.
Alocal biodiversity group
will hold awinter seminar
called Native Plantings 101
to offer information for
farmers.
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