Ashburton Courier: October 14, 2021

COUNCILBRIEF
5BaringSquareWest, Ashburton |POBox 94, Ashburton, NewZealand 7740 | Telephone (03) 307 7700 | Website ashburtondc.govt.nz
MARtoolshelplowernitrate levels
Unused stockwater supplied by the
Ashburton DistrictCouncil is helping
Mid Canterbury’s ground-breaking
managed aquifer recharge pilot
programme lower groundwater
nitrates inthe Hekeao Hinds Plains
area.
The pilotprogramme is in itsfifth year and
the unused watertake, from the Rangitata
Diversion Race, isfed into underground
aquifers to boost water quality and
quantity. Atthe same time, farmers are
reducing nutrient leaching from their landuse
activities and improving irrigation and
watermanagement.
In some cases,groundwaternitrate targets
setfor 2035havealready beenachieved.
Council is among many agencies and
organisations supporting the pilot, which
is the collaborative work of farmers and
scientists to reversewaterqualitydamage
from decades past. It began aiming to
meet nitrate targets in Environment
Canterbury’s Plan Change 2of3.8mg/l
for the lower Hinds River and 6.9mg/l in
shallowgroundwaterbythe year 2035.
Results of water quality testing in the
lower Hinds for the first five months of
2021 showed itwas near the 2035 target
and follows the introduction of anearriver
rechargesiteonthe river near Mayfield.
Councillors were told recently that the
recharge site was also important for the
township of Mayfield as it boosted water
levels in theboreused forthe community
drinking watersupply.
The managed aquifer programme isrun
by the HekeaoHinds WaterEnhancement
Trust and started with one recharge site
at Lagmhor in 2016. Groundwater nitrate
levels were between 6and 7mg/l beforein
the area beforeitstarted; theyare now1.2-
2.2mg/l when the siteisoperational.
No recharge has happened at the sitesince
May’s floods because groundwater levels
arehigh.
Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown said the
programme was showing success in
water quality measurements, and also in
improved flows and fish life inthe lower
Hinds River.
"There’sbeen abig improvement from five
yearsago and alot of work has been done
by the trust, farmers have givenland, and
Council hasplayed apart by giving some
unused stockwater."
Trustchairman PeterLowe saidanumber
of recharge sites had been developed and
the overall resultsgavefarmers, irrigation
companies and authorities confidence
they were onthe right track to achieving
freshwatertargets.
"These Year 5results are cold hard facts
thatshowwearemaking adifferenceand
making progress on considerably more
sites thanjustLagmhor.
"But there is still work to do.The trustisin
the process of converting its pilot wateruse
consents to longer-term use and
ongoingaccesstowaterwillbeimportant."
NeilBrown -Mayor
Planning forcovid ... and well beyond
Vaccination is the only game in
town at the moment as we gear
up for aconfrontation with the
highly-transmissible Delta strain.
Uncertaintyoverhow andwhen the
coronavirus will spreadhas us all
worried.Council has cancelled Bite
Niteand three big publicChristmas
eventsout of caution. We hopetokeep
the virus at bay, but we may not.
That’swhy it is crucial our district gets
behind thenational Super Saturday
vaccination daythis Saturday and
Canterbury’s own90% ForCanterbury
campaign, which is the regional target
the Canterbury DistrictHealth Board
wantsustomeetbyLabour Day
(Monday 25 October).
Thisweek,about 20 per cent of our
population remain unvaccinated–
becausetheyhaven’t quitegot around
to it yet, or arevaccinehesitant or
resistant.
The pilotmanaged aquiferrecharge site at Lagmhor.
There is plenty of excellent information
from reliable health sources(covid19.
govt.nz) forustoknowthatvaccination
is the bestway to protectourselves
againstCovid-19.Ifyou knowsomeone
whoisnot yetprotected, thenplease
helpthemget overthe line.
Vaccinations areour pathway to
amorenormal life, alifewithout
lockdowns andwherebusinesses can
operate without so many restrictions.
Alifewhere events likeBiteNite, Light
Up the Nite, shows and rodeos can
happen.
It is sometimes hardtothink aboutlife
without theimmediate constraintsof
covid but in the past couple of weeks
Council projects with long-lasting
benefitsfor thefuturehavebeen
uppermostinour thinking.
Relocating therail hubfromthe centre
of town to Fairton has been made
possible with some money from the
Government andlastweek Councillors
agreed to progresstothe finalstage
threeofadetailed businesscasefor
asecond bridgeoverthe Ashburton
RiveratChalmersAvenue.
As well as those bigticket items,the
revitalisationofthe CBD streetscape
is drawing to aclose, repairstothe
existing State Highway 1bridgeare
allbut complete and contractorsare
makinggood progress on installingtwo
sets of trafficlights at WalnutAvenue.
Notall of these projectsare Council’s,
buttheypoint to afuturewherewecan
getaroundAshburton easilyand more
safely,and once again enjoyour town
centre.
Thesecondbridge is an important
second connection between
Tinwald and Ashburton andgives
more resiliencetoour local roading
network as well as South Island freight
channels. Importantly,fromafunding
point of view, ChalmersAvenuehas the
support of Waka Kotahi NZ Transport
Thursday,14October2021 | ISSUE 50
Uncertainty
seesevents
cancelled
Ashburton District Council has made
the difficult decision to cancel Bite
Nite and three public Christmas
activities because of uncertainties
around Covid-19.
Bite Nite was rescheduled to Saturday
6 November, from an original date in
September, followingthe outbreakofthe
Delta covid strain in Auckland. Light Up
the Night, on Saturday27November,and
Buskers Night and Family Movie Night in
December, have also been cancelled.
Community Services Group Manager
Steve Fabish said uncertainties around
covid restrictions as health authorities
tried to contain the outbreakhad led to the
four events being cancelled.
“While it’s disappointing, Council needed
to actcautiouslybeforecommittingtothe
extended costs of running these events.”
BiteNiteCultureFestisanevent organised
by theAshburton Youth Council andchair
Michael Baker said hundreds of people
had been expected toattend, along with
entertainers from Auckland and other
partsofthe country.
“It’s justnotpossible now, giventhe covid
situation in NewZealand and restrictions
on gathering numbers andmovements.”
Light Up the Night on 27 November
is when Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown
traditionally hits the switch to light up
the district’s giant Christmas tree, which
will this year be positioned in the newlyrevamped
CBD.Council is nowplanningto
livestreamtheevent.
Agency -nootherlocations do.
Council mustbalancebudgets and
the whole community’sneeds and
wishes when it comes to the business
of providing services likeroads. It is not
always plainsailingand in this case the
watershouldbeflowing under abridge
at ChalmersAvenuebymaybe2027,
earlierifpossible.
Therehas been alot said about the
location overthe yearsand those
who want to be fully informed should
listentothe robustdiscussion had
by Councillors lastweek. Thereisno
substitutefor getting thenewsstraight
from the horse’s mouth.
1 ashburtondc.govt.nz
Thursday,14October 2021 |ISSUE 50