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Kia ora, and welcome to the third edition of On-Stream for 2022

This year is zooming past with Easter, ANZAC Day and the first school holidays been and gone already. We hope the breaks were fulfilling and restful for you and your whānau. 

Autumn at the ORC is always busy for staff, as it's the season for preparing and releasing our draft Annual Plan, while we continue to work with communities around seasonal changes for example winter grazing.

Read on to see how we’re also making and supporting efforts to improve water quality and reduce threats to our environment.  

Happy reading, and as always, we welcome your feedback.
 
Thanks for your feedback

Thanks to everyone who had a say on the proposed Annual Plan for the year starting July 2022.  

This proposed Annual Plan closely reflects the forecast financial budgets in year two of our Long-term Plan (LTP), which itself reflects community input and government support for ramping up our work to improve Otago’s air, water, land, biodiversity and public transport. 

With current community feedback now in hand Council will decide on what final changes are required and in time for implementation from 1 July 2022.
 
Land and Water Plan - what's next?

Thanks again to those who attended online meetings, filled in surveys and marked favourite Otago waterway spots on online maps during the recent consultation stage of forming our Land and Water Regional Plan.  

The information you gave us about what is important to you and your community is helping to develop the plan, which aims to keep all our Otago fresh waterways healthy and safe. 

The second consultation stage begins in a couple of months. We’ll be seeking your views on different options for managing water and land and achieving the things you value about waterways in your area. 

We'll be sharing information about our most recent phase of the consultation with you soon. 
Tuakitoto & Tomahawk wetland restoration

We are poised to begin work on the most publicly preferred options to restore two ecologically important wetlands in Otago: Lake Tuakitoto, near Kaitangata in South Otago, and Tomahawk/Tomahaka Lagoon in Dunedin.  

Both are regionally significant bodies of water for supporting ecological and wildlife diversity. The work aims to improve biodiversity and water quality.  

The lake also has significant hydrological values including maintaining water quality and low flows (reducing flood flows). 

In a separate project, the ORC is ahead of schedule upgrading flood control infrastructure at Robson Lagoon, also within the Lake Tuakitoto Catchment area. 

The level of interest in the public consultation was impressive and showed how much people treasure these places. 

Find out more 
ORC responds to flood call out

Parts of the South Island have been very dry of late, but in February it was a different picture all together. When Metservice issued a red-light weather warning – the highest of its kind – for the West Coast, Wānaka and Whakatipu, four of our expert environmental monitors and river engineers responded to the call for support. 

On the Otago side of the mountains, Network Infrastructure Lead Nick Boyens recorded river flows from the relative dryness of a helicopter.

Helicopter gauging is a technique developed by ORC’s own Paul Hannah in collaboration with NIWA. Using this technique, experts were able to fly over washed-out roads and bridges, to measure peak river flow rates safely and efficiently.

Another critical piece of the response puzzle is the on-going surveying and photographing of the landscape as the event unfolds.
 
 
 
New sea level maps 
The Otago Regional and Dunedin City Councils welcome new data and maps from the NZ SeaRise Programme, which show the effects of projected vertical land movement and the rise in localised sea-level along Dunedin and Otago coastlines.

The information and online map tool will help councils plan alongside coastal communities to adapt to these changes in the years ahead. 

Otago Regional Council Operations General Manager Gavin Palmer says the new information will also feed into planning to mitigate the impacts of changes in sea level in parts of coastal Otago such as the Clutha Delta, and on the Taieri Plains.

“This type of information helps build a picture to assist us with the ongoing management of flood-protection infrastructure in places such as the Lower Taieri and the Clutha Delta areas. So, this informational tool, along with our regular monitoring, helps to inform that work.

“This is because all our drainage schemes drain eventually to the sea and sea level determines how well that drainage happens. So, information on this is vital to help us adapt in coastal areas,” says Dr Palmer.

The new information https://www.searise.nz/maps includes, for the first time, vertical land movement (subsidence and uplift from earthquakes). For parts of the Dunedin and Otago coast, significant subsidence or uplift at more than 2mm a year will either speed or slow down local sea level rise (such as parts of the Otago Peninsula).
In brief

Waste not, want not

The first ever report detailing Otago’s waste and recycling infrastructure, volumes, issues and activity was released last month by the Otago Mayoral Forum. The report may pave the way to a more coordinated approach to managing waste and recycling across Otago. Find the report here.
 
Ripping it up riparian style

Some of our Catchments team joined in NOSLaM’s Karara Creek riparian planting workshop last month. Lots of enthusiastic people learned about riparian planting and planting critical source areas on their properties to help protect our waterways. The NOSLaM group used one of our riparian planting guides to match the plants to the environment. 

Find Otago riparian planting guides for your area here and Find out about NOSLaM here
 
Farewell Rusty

With heavy hearts we learned of the passing of Rusty, an incredible sniffer dog, who with Southland-based owner, John Taylor, helped to combat velvet leaf all over the motu/country. Rusty and John’s award-winning work did much to control this plant, which has the potential to devastate crops. (Photo: Stuff) 
 
 
 
Find out about monthly Otago Regional Council meetings here.
 
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