A key finding from the report is that 39% of allocated groundwater was used during the 2011/12 year compared with 52% in the previous year. For surface water, 43.4% of the volume of allocated takes was used compared with 49.5% in the previous year.

The amount of consented water used in the 2011/12 season was relatively low because of a wetter-than-usual season: during the main irrigation season from October 2011 to April 2012 soil moisture levels were often replenished by rainfall without the need for irrigation.

The report also provides information on water use by water management zone, including statistics on the proportion of wells and surface water takes with metering systems installed.

Throughout Canterbury 58% of groundwater wells with takes of 20l/s and more had water meters installed and consent holders had provided data for the 2011/12 report, up from 43% in the previous water year.

For surface water takes around 34% had measuring systems installed, compared with 24% in the previous year (for takes of 20 l/s and more).

In total the metered water takes represented 62.4% (1137 million cubic metres) of all allocated groundwater, and 20.5% (3213 million cubic metres) of all allocated surface water in Canterbury.

The 2011/12 report is based on data from 2140 water takes, up from 1509 water takes in the previous year’s report.

Read the report (7 MB)