Water company bids for Otekaieke race

The Waitaki District Council is proposing to transfer ownership of the Otekaieke water race to the Otekaieke Water Company Ltd.

 

The water in the race is not used for drinking and there are fewer than 75 people who use it for irrigation.

 

The Council’s asset manager for water, Martin Pacey said he had no concerns with the proposal subject to approval from the consumers.

 

A condition of the transfer, should it be approved by Council, would be a binding referendum of all the current water users.

 

”Council is not intending to allocate resources to upgrade the scheme to provide the improvements the Otekaieke Water Company would like to see and in my opinion, the irrigation water race scheme does not naturally fit with Council’s current business or priorities. The proposal will allow Council to focus on piped community drinking water supplies,” said Mr Pacey.

 

A report to the Council’s assets committee states that the Otekaieke Water Company would like to invest a considerable amount of capital into the scheme to provide a more reliable water supply to its users.

 

The system currently consists of approximately 10km of open water race. The water is fed from a weir in the Otekaieke River above the Kenmore Homestead and shares parts of the Upper Waitaki Irrigation Scheme in its lower reaches.

 

If the proposal is successful the Otekaieke Water Company Ltd plans to retain the first 2.5km of open race, build a new dam and bypass system and install a reticulated piped system for irrigation and stock use to all the current stakeholders over the remaining 7.5km.

 

All legal fees and costs involved in the referendum and the transfer of ownership would be paid by the Otekaieke Water Company Ltd.