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WAI Wānaka completes Community Catchment Plan

The Wānaka App

10 June 2020, 6:04 PM

WAI Wānaka completes Community Catchment PlanThe CCP sets out a process for managing the Upper Clutha catchment.

A community catchment plan (CCP) designed to safeguard water quality and ecosystem functions is now complete. 


WAI Wānaka has worked alongside the community to create the CCP, which covers the Upper Clutha catchment area, encompassing Lake Wānaka, Lake Hāwea and the Clutha, Hāwea and Cardrona Rivers.  



The plan outlines a multi-stakeholder process for future management of the Upper Clutha catchment, setting out 60 actions to be implemented and identifying the organisations best positioned to lead each action.


“WAI Wānaka has demonstrated what can be achieved by a community working together at pace and in the process has established solid connections locally and nationally,” Wanaka Water Project chair Mandy Bell said. 


“Completion of the CCP gives our community a head start when it comes to delivering on the new Action for Healthy Waterways announced recently by the government. 


The Action for Healthy Waterways package introduces new rules and regulations to stop further degradation of New Zealand’s freshwater resources and reverse past damage. 


The development of the CCP involved residents, community groups, business owners, iwi, visitors, farmers, scientists, the Otago Regional Council and Queenstown Lakes District Council.


The CCP also makes clear that successful catchment management will require some changes in the way land and water are managed in the Upper Clutha. 


“The CCP is our community blueprint for the future, guiding the many individuals, community groups and businesses undertaking positive work within the Upper Clutha to safeguard our water, improve ecosystem function and reverse biodiversity loss,” Wānaka Water Project manager Megan Williams said. 


The CCP emphasises the concept of ki uta ki tai (from the mountains to the sea), which is important in the Upper Clutha given its location at the headwaters of the Clutha River.  


“Our community has a responsibility to safeguard the water in our catchment and to ensure that the water leaving our catchment is of high quality, to avoid problems being passed on to those downstream.”


WAI Wānaka thanked all those who contributed to the development of the CCP, particularly the Shaping our Future Water Taskforce, Landpro Limited and Dr Simone Langhans from the University of Otago.


The community catchment plan is available at the Wanaka Library and can be downloaded from WAI Wānaka’s website here.


PHOTO: Wanaka App