Bid to review dates for minimum river flow restrictions

New minimum flow limits at points on the Tukituki River have worried residents of Central Hawke's Bay. Photo/File

Options for deferring water restrictions said to be "crucial" to the health of the Central Hawke's Bay's community will be discussed at a Hawke's Bay Regional Council planning committee meeting tomorrow.

Last month CHB Mayor Alex Walker led a delegation appealing to the committee to consider extending the deadline to meet new minimum flow, and allocation limits under Plan Change Six (PC6).

They feared these would have a "severe" impact on the agriculture-driven district, leaving some businesses "struggling to survive".

Tomorrow, the planning committee will be advised to recommend regional council staff discuss options on the potential to defer the PC6 dates, with the relevant bodies.

The greatest impact of the introduction of new minimum flows - below which irrigation bans are imposed - was thought to be at the Red Bridge site on the Tukituki river.

Currently the minimum flow there is set at 3500 litres a second. Under PC6 this could increase to 4300 litres a second by July 2018, and go up to 5200 litres a second in July 2023.

Deferring the 2018 deadline would not be simple - a report before the committee states even if the flows were deferred, resource consents including them as a condition would also need altering through a seperate process.

The report outlines "plausabile scenarios" which could alter one or more of the PC6 dates. It also highlights two possible plan change paths.

However, it notes until any proposed plan change could become operative, there was "little scope" for the council to act contrary to the timing of the low-flow regime - or for a review of resource consent conditions.

There is currently no budget, or staff time allocated for any type of PC6 "fix" plan change, the report states.

It was initially thought CHB water users would have up to five years to adapt to the new flow regimes under the Tukituki catchment-focused plan change.

Facing a restriction of their surface water tanks, many signed up to the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme.