Catchment groups working with the Otago Regional Council (ORC) have provided an on-the-ground perspective which will help inform the upcoming Land and Water Regional Plan, ORC says.

The plan will become a tool to manage land and waterways in the region, aligning with the government’s goal to improve water quality within one generation.

ORC senior economist Dr Ann Yang said the work with catchment groups shows that many people are concerned about possible changes and how they will be affected.

“It highlights real challenges people are experiencing of the cost of doing rural business and the anxiety among communities caused by the uncertainty of regulatory change,” she said.

The input of catchment groups also provides new perspectives on the costs of implementing environmental mitigations, she said.

The Upper Clutha has a number of catchment groups, including for the Wānaka, Lake Hāwea and Luggate Creek catchments; and the Cardrona Landcare group has been active for a number of years.

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ORC general manager policy and science Anita Dawe said the catchment groups’ input (which has been collated into a Catchment Stories report) provides the ORC with better context and understanding of what local communities are already doing to manage land and water across the region, along with the challenges they face.

“Catchment groups play an important role in developing and implementing community driven solutions,” Anita said. 

The Catchment Stories report is the second of five reports from the ORC’s Economic Work Programme which is part of the overall Land and Water Regional Plan project. 

The ORC was directed to begin the process for a new land and water regional plan in 2019 when the Minister for the Environment told the regional council it could do better to manage Otago's lakes.

The regional council is scheduled to notify its proposed Land and Water Regional Plan by June 1, 2024.

It will replace the now-outdated Regional Plan Water for Otago which has been operative since 2004 and the Regional Plan Waste for Otago, which has been operative since 1997.

Read the Catchment Stories report here.