MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE CANTERBURY WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGY;
WAIMAKARIRI ZONE COMMITTEE HELD IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS, WAIMAKARIRI
DISTRICT COUNCIL, 215 HIGH STREET, RANGIORA AT 3.30PM ON MONDAY 1 SEPTEMBER
2014
PRESENT
Claire McKay (Chairperson), Darren Mann (Deputy Chairperson) WDC Cr Kevin Felstead, David
Ashby, Bryan Sulzberger, Grant Edge, Ecan Commissioner Rex Williams (from 3.47pm), Clare
Williams (from 3.50pm)
IN ATTENDANCE
Murray Griffin (Zone Facilitator, ECan), Jill Atkinson (ECan Director), Stephen Bragg (Ngai Tahu
Facilitator, ECan) (from 3.40pm), Anna Veltman (Land Management Advisor, ECan), Jess Hill
(Biodiversity Officer, ECan), Mary Sparrow (Principal Policy Analyst) and Adrienne Smith (Committee
Advisor, WDC)
For Workshop:
Matt Dodson (ECan Hydrogeologist) and Adrian Meredith (Principal Surface Water Quality Scientist)
OBSERVERS
Leone Evans (Rural Advisor, Enterprise North Canterbury), Brent Walton (Waimakariri Irrigation Ltd)
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KARAKIA
There was no karakia.
APOLOGIES
An apology for lateness was received and sustained from Commissioner Rex Williams.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
There were no conflicts of interest recorded.
CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES
Minutes of a meeting of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy - Waimakariri Zone
Committee held on Monday 4 August 2014
Moved Bryan Sulzberger seconded Grant Edge
THAT the CWMS Waimakariri Zone Committee
(a)
Confirms as a true and correct record the minutes of a meeting of the Canterbury Water
Management Strategy – Waimakariri Zone Committee held on Monday 4 August 2014.
CARRIED
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MATTERS ARISING
Item 3, Working Group and Regional Committee Updates
Regarding Item 3, Working Group and Regional Committee Updates, (3rd bullet point) Grant
Edge advised that he is yet to liaise with Geoff Meadows at Waimakariri District Council
regarding an update on the Global Consent process. This will be followed up on before the
next meeting.
Bruce Waddleton (Community and Public Health, CDHB)
Response to questions as a result of the presentation from Bruce Waddleton (Health Protection
Officer, Community and Public Health, Canterbury District Health Board), were tabled and are
provided in a paper attached to these minutes.
Item 6 General Business – National Policy Statement
In response to Item 6 General Business, and the request for comparative analysis of the points
that were raised in both the Ecan submission and the Waimakariri District Council submission
and the National Policy Statement, Murray provided information on the Ecan submission and
Mary Sparrow provided a copy of the submission from the Waimakariri District Council.
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OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC TO SPEAK
Brent Walton from Waimakariri Irrigation Ltd provided an update on the Farm Environmental
Plans. The plans have been trialled on three properties, which identified a few ‘bugs’ in the online version that have now been resolved. The software has been jointly developed with Opuha
Irrigation. Although progress is not as fast as hoped, it is still on track to reach the year one
target of gathering farm information and compiling this into FEPs, and the digital mapping of
farms for each shareholder.
Updating on the Wrights Road water storage facility consent process, Brent advised that a
decision is expected mid-September. Brent noted that the building consent granted prior to the
resource consent process being undertaken had become a distraction during the resource
consent process. Questions were raised during the hearing as to the legality of the building
consent, without the resource consent having been granted.
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WORKING GROUP AND REGIONAL COMMITTEE UPDATES – Claire McKay and Zone
Committee
3.1
Regional committee report- meeting 12th August 2014 – Claire McKay
Claire presented her report as included in the agenda. It was noted that it would be
beneficial for committee members to have access to any decisions or conclusions of the
regional sub committees and it was agreed that this be reflected in written reports and
relevant links to committee reports will also be included in future updates.
Moved Claire McKay seconded Commissioner Rex Williams
THAT the Zone Committee:
(a)
Receives the report.
CARRIED
There were no updates from the working Groups at this meeting.
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IMMEDIATE STEPS UPDATE – Jess Hill (Biodiversity Officer, ECan)
4.1
Immediate Steps Waimakariri CWMS Zone Committee Subgroup Update
Jess Hill updated the committee on the current status of Immediate Steps Projects for
the Zone, the funding allocated to these projects and what has been spent to date. She
also gave an overview of potential future projects for Waimakariri IMS funding. Jess
noted that in some cases where the funding allocated for projects had not been spent (in
Table 2 of the report), it is often the case that there has been some work undertaken on
the project but the invoicing has not yet been received. There was also information
shown illustrating all biodiversity project locations throughout Canterbury (including
Canterbury Biodiversity Strategy, Immediate Steps, Honda Tree Fund and Ministry for
the Environment funded projects).
Clare Williams asked how the $2,333 from the Ashley Inanga Enhancement Works was
going to cover floodgate remediation. Jess clarified that the $2,333 was not intended to
fix the floodgate, but provided for stage 1 of the project. Stage 1 allows for consultation
and development of a restoration plan for the river mouth side of the floodgate. A
proposed restoration plan has been drafted and is now at the stage of seeking input from
local stakeholders.
Jess advised that she is meeting with the River Engineers next week to discuss the
feasibility and affordability of a proposal to enhance the habitat in the area above the
floodgate for native fish species and to ensure any proposal aligns with the management
requirements of the floodgate.
Grant Edge suggested a meeting be held to discuss what progress had been made as a
result of this meeting with the River Engineers.
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WAIMAKARIRI ZONE IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAMME – RECOMMENDATION REVIEW
– Murray Griffin
Murray referred the committee to the updated version of the ZIP recommendations review
included in the agenda papers, which incorporates the feedback provided by the committee.
The following further editions to the recommendations were noted to be included in the final
draft of the ZIP recommendation review.
Kaitiakitanga
(b) Amend review statement to: need more scientific data and monitoring for lowland streams.
(h) Amend: Lowland springs are a ‘treasure’ to ‘taonga’.
(g) Include and arrange a follow up on Waimakariri District Council process for biodiversity
protection with regard to drainage management.
Kaitiakitanga general – add a reference to incorporate the economic value / potential
associated with Kaitiakitanga (e.g. mahinga kai) alongside the cultural principles this
represents.
2. Braided Rivers
2.6: Amend to clarify that the COMAR on the lowland streams is completed, with the main stem
assessment now underway.
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2.14: Amend to reflect that this is progressing but there has been little attention provided
recently to this on the northern side of the Waimakariri
2.15: Amend to include a request for an update of the future review process for the Waimakariri
River regional Plan.
3. Nutrient Management and Water Use Efficiency
3.1 & 3.7: Include a reference between these with a particular focus the impact of first flushing
events on lowland streams. Follow up on the feasibility of an auto recorder being used to
monitor these peak events. It was noted that this recommendation review also relates to
Kaitiakitanga issue F.
4. Water Supply
4.2: Kevin will provide an update for Murray to add on WDC’s progress of community drinking
water supplies.
4.5: Add a reference to make the link to 4.7
General Conclusions
- It was suggested that if the review statements were given a slightly expanded rewrite, then
the review would potentially be useful to a wider audience than the zone committee. Murray will
complete this rewrite and present to the committee as a final draft for sign-off.
- Also include an expanded explanation of those recommendations that are part or fully
completed.
- Other issues to be considered in relation these recommendations? One suggested issue was
projections of potential sea level rise and the future impact on coastal areas in the zone.
Moved Commissioner Rex Williams seconded Claire McKay
THAT the Zone Committee:
(a)
Review the Waimakariri ZIP recommendations to determine any amendment of priorities
in relation to the committee’s work programme, and the LUWQ and Biodiversity Project
Schedule for 2014/15.
CARRIED
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GENERAL BUSINESS – Claire McKay and Zone Committee Members
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
Bryan commented on the cleaning of drains in the district – noting while the
committee may advocate for planting of riparian strips and foliage, he pointed out
that this creates a drag on the water flow. Sediment build up in drains due to
insufficient cleaning, results in little flow in some drains in the district (noted as an
example drains in Ohoka). Drain clearing should be such that water is able to flow.
Drains need to be at a level that has been proven to be sufficient for water to flow.

An invitation has been extended to all committee members from the Te Kohaka o
Tuhaitara Trust to visit the Tuhaitara Coastal Park on Wednesday 5 November to
view the progress of the rehabilitation of the land. Those interested in attending are
to meet at the Trust Office, Woodend Beach Road, Woodend Beach, at 3.00pm
CWMS Waimakariri Zone Committee
Minutes 1 September 2014

Members were advised that on Friday 12 September, from 1pm to 5pm,
representatives of the Ministry of Primary Industries, Ministry for the Environment
and Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, will be doing a study tour
focusing on the Canterbury Water Management Strategy. This will include a visit to
Waimakariri Zone, in particular Eyrewell Farm and Waimakariri Irrigation Ltd. Zone
Committee members have been invited to attend. Murray will circulate more
information to members regarding this.

Commissioner Rex Williams advised that there has been discussion recently with
Fish and Game on what monitoring is undertaken by Environment Canterbury.
Following these discussions, Commissioner Williams had available at the meeting,
copies of the following publications for members to view:




Compliance Monitoring Annual Report 2012/13,
Monitoring and Compliance Incident Response Guidelines 2014
Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Guidelines 2010
David Ashby advised that in July Silver Fern Farms (SFF) had extended an invitation
to committee members to a tour of the effluent processing facility at their plant at
Belfast. This was a worthwhile visit with a number of Kaiapoi residents also
attending. A good explanation was provided on the process used for effluent
processing and on the settlement ponds. David suggested that after seeing the
facility and learning of the process followed by SFF for effluent processing, there is
no way that raw offal would be entering the Waimakariri River after it going through
this process. The effluent is well treated, to a standard which is best as they can do
under the circumstances. Silver Fern Farms stressed that it is important that they
get back on the Christchurch City Council scheme as soon as possible and it was
unfortunate that the situation where the need to discharge into the Waimakariri River
had arisen. SFF acknowledge that it is not an ideal situation, but they are dealing
with it the best way they can.
There being no further business, the meeting closed at 5.00pm.
CONFIRMED
___________________________
Chairman
___________________________
Date
WORKSHOP
At the conclusion of the meeting there will be Workshop to discuss the following items:
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WAIMAKARIRI CATCHMENT PLANNING REVIEW – Murray Griffin, Zone Committee, Matt
Dodson (ECan Hydrogeologist) and Adrian Meredith (Principal Surface Water Quality Scientist)
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AGENDA ITEM NO: Committee Update
REPORT TO: Waimakariri Zone
Committee
SUBJECT MATTER: Response to Zone Committee
questions from: CDHB
DATE OF MEETING: 1 September 2014
REPORT BY: Bruce Waddleton, Health Protection Officer, Community & Public Health (CPH), a
division of Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB)
FEEDBACK:
Bruce has provided the following responses to the committee’s questions from the August meeting.
Bryan Sulzberger asked: How does the CDHB work with ECan to monitor and identify a public
health risk for bathing in local waterways?
Answer – ECan carries out microbiological testing and cyanobacteria monitoring on popular
recreational swimming areas throughout the area. When elevated levels are detected, ECan works
with CPH to assess the risk according to National Guidelines. If a public health risk is identified further
action will be taken, such as a media release to inform the public.
Clare Williams asked: Is there an associated standard for mahinga kai gathering?
Answer – There are no specific guidelines currently in place however, CPH are working with various
groups in order to identify how best to notify health risks associated with Mahinga Kai gathering.
Cyanobacterial bloom warnings include limited advice regarding the removal of the gut from fish
collected from a waterway where a bloom has been notified. Marine biotoxin warnings focus on the
marine environment and does not include fresh water mahinga kai gathering. CPH acknowledge that
further work is required in this area.
David Ashby asked: Can the monitoring of E.Coli distinguish between human and bovine?
Answer – Yes, but it is very expensive. Consequently this is not part of routine water monitoring.
Specialist laboratories, such as ESR, can provide this level of testing. CPH consider this type of
monitoring if, for example, the cause of an illness outbreak is being investigated. During the Darfield
gastroenteritis outbreak (2012) it was important to identify if the source of the human illness was from
sheep waste. Samples of sheep faeces were taken and typed against samples taken from human
cases and the suspected contaminated drinking water. This same sampling regime would be possible
for cows.
OTHER ISSUES COVERED:
Is there any data relating to the incidence of illness in relation to water quality?
Answer – Data of illness can be provided by CPH however, the data shows illnesses which may have
a range of possible sources. Someone with Campylobacter for example may have contracted the
illness from a number of possible sources (e.g. contact with animals, contact with recreational water,
consumed water from an unsafe source).
What is the Maximum Acceptable Value (MAV) for nitrates? Bruce explained that this was
11.3mg/l Nitrogen, which is now more commonly expressed as 50mg/l Nitrate NO3. These values
are equivalent.
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