Rangitata Diversion Race Management Ltd

Rangitata Diversion Race Management Ltd have applied to Environment Canterbury and Ashburton District Council for consent for the construction and operation of a substantial water storage facility and whitewater course; the abstraction of additional water from the Rangitata River; replacement of an existing fish fence; and to close and re-establish Shepherds Bush Road.

The joint decision of Environment Canterbury and Ashburton District Council has now been released. The decision can be read below.

For any queries regarding the decision please contact Alison Cooper, Consents Hearings Officer, at Hearings@ecan.govt.nz or call 027 5497 661.

New applications
Joint Notification

The Canterbury Regional Council and Ashburton District Council have received an application from Rangitata Diversion Race Management Limited (RDRML) for a suite of resource consents to construct, maintain and operate a large water storage facility (which could store up to 53 million cubic metres) on the eastern side of the Rangitata River near Klondyke. The water storage facility will be located adjacent to Montalto Road, at or about map reference Topo50 BY19:6150-4409.

The water storage facility is expected to supply water for a variety of purposes. Water from the facility will be made available to existing irrigators (to improve their reliability) and may be made available for additional irrigation (in mid-Canterbury and south Canterbury) as well as for projects such as Targeted Stream Augmentation and Managed Aquifer Recharge. Resource consent is, however, only being sought for the water storage facility and a series of associated activities (refer below). The use of the water from the water storage facility will be subject to resource consent applications or will occur in accordance with existing resource consents.

In addition, RDRML has sought the resource consent necessary for it to

a. Take an additional 10 cubic metres per second from the Rangitata River, when the flow exceeds 142.6 cumecs;
b. Raise the bund height of, and/or widen a reach of the Rangitata Diversion Race canal so it can convey the proposed additional take from the Rangitata River to the proposed water storage facility;
c. Replace the existing 'BAFF' fish screen with an engineered bund/infiltration gallery, and to construct a new fish return channel;
d. Construct and operate a whitewater facility and associated amenities;
e. ‘Remove' a length of Shepherds Bush Road and re-establish it further to the South;
f. Make modifications to a series of intersections / the roads on the transportation networks leading to the proposed site of water storage facility;
g. Establish a six hectare ecological refuge, incorporating a lizard sanctuary, additional terrestrial habitat and wetland habitat on the lower terrace, adjacent to the Rangitata River;
h. Establish three landscape buffers; and
i. Construct an emergency spillway/sluicing channel within the banks and bed of the Rangitata River.

The application includes an assessment of effects. The applicant has applied for the following resource consents from:

Canterbury Regional Council

CRC170651 – a land use consent for earthworks on the lower terrace, adjacent to the Rangitata River, to create a six hectare ecological refuge comprising of one hectare of lizard habitat, two hectares of native planting and three hectares of constructed wetland. In addition, earthworks are required to construct the gully race, drop structure for the whitewater course and the river outlet channel.

CRC170652 – a land use consent for earthworks to construct the 53 million cubic metre storage pond; to upgrade part of the Rangitata Diversion Race (RDR) Canal; and to construct a 460 metre long fish bypass channel.

CRC170653 – a land use consent to disturb, and to remove vegetation from, the bed of the Rangitata River for the purposes of constructing a sluice outlet and fish bypass channel.

CRC170654 – a water permit to abstract an additional 10 cumecs from the Rangitata River, when the flows exceed 142.6 cumecs (as measured at Klondyke). The additional abstraction will be used to fill the storage pond and to provide supply to the RDR.

CRC170655 – a water permit to take and use surface water at a rate not exceeding 0.5 cumecs from the Rangitata Diversion Race canals for construction purposes (i.e. dust suppression).

CRC170656 – a water permit to take groundwater for dewatering purposes. Dewatering will only be required on the lower terrace where earthworks are being undertaken to create the ecological habitat.

CRC170657 – a water permit to dam up to 53 million cubic metres of water outside of the riverbed.

CRC170658 – a discharge permit to discharge dust to air from construction activities.

CRC170659 – a discharge permit to discharge contaminants to air from the combustion of diesel from a generator during construction.

CRC170660 – a discharge permit to discharge construction-phase stormwater and dewatering water to land via sediment retention ponds and soakage pits.

CRC170661 – a discharge permit to discharge water and sediment from the storage pond to the Rangitata River via a sluicing channel/emergency spillway.

CRC170662 – a discharge permit to temporarily discharge water and sediment in the Rangitata River as a result of the works to be undertaken under resource consent CRC170653.A duration of 35 years has been sought for all consents. A lapse period of 35 years has also been sought for all the consents.

Ashburton District Council
LUC16/0067 – a land use consent at 906 Shepherds Bush Road, Ashburton and Klondyke intake area, Klondyke Terrace, Ashburton to construct and operate all of the aforementioned activities on land that is zoned Rural B. This includes replacement of three bridges, re-alignment of Shepherds Bush Road and carparks, creation of carparks and toilets associated with whitewater course.

A lapse period of 35 years has been sought for all the consents.

Further to this, resource consent is required under the Resource Management (National Environmental Standard for Assessing and Managing Contaminants in Soil to Protect Human Health) Regulations 2011 for the disturbance of soil.

Applications
Pre-circulated Reports and Evidence
Pre-circulated Reports and Evidence
S42A Report - Supplementary Evidence of Tim Morris (PDF File, 1.3MB)
S42A Report - Supplementary Evidence of Nick Boyes (PDF File, 217 KB)
Submitters evidence of Te Runanga o Arowhenua (PDF File, 72.0 KB)
S42A Report - Supplementary Corrections of G Horrell (PDF File, 35.1KB)
Applicants Right of Reply Submission of Vanessa Hamm (PDF File, 1.4MB)
Applicants Statement of supplementary evidence of Nathan Fletcher (PDF File, 885.8KB)
Submitters evidence of Central South Island Fish and Game (PDF File, 283 KB)
Submitters summary evidence of Alistair Keane (PDF File, 637 KB)
Submitters evidence of Central South Island Fish and Game - Legal (PDF File, 1.5MB)
Applicants evidence of Ben Curry (PDF File, 305 KB)
Submitters evidence of Hinds MARs Group (PDF File, 6.5 MB)
Submitters evidence of Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu and Te Runanga o Arowhenua - Legal (PDF File, 131KB)
Submitters evidence of Federated Farmers Mid Canterbury (PDF File, 487 KB)
Submitters evidence of Murray Turley for Rangitata South Irrigation Ltd (PDF File, 161 KB)
Submitters evidence of Holly Simperingham for Trustpower (PDF File, 650 KB)
Submitters evidence of Keith Gunn for Save the Rivers (PDF File, 1.9 MB)
Submitters evidence of McGregor Simpson (PDF File, 402 KB)
Submitters evidence of Matthew Hall (PDF File, 1.2 MB)
Submitters evidence of Martyn Baker (PDF File, 537 KB)
Submitters evidence of Ian Parkin (PDF File, 161 KB)
Submitters evidence of Ian Hedley for Save the Rivers (PDF File, 3.9 MB)
Submitters evidence of Rangitata Water Ltd - Legal (PDF File, 848 KB)
Submitters evidence of Murray McMurtrie (PDF File, 151 KB)
Submitters evidence of Rangitata Water Limited (PDF File 4.2 MB)
Submitters evidence of Daniel Stack (PDF File, 109 KB)
Ashburton District Council - S42A Report (PDF File, 4.34MB)
Environment Canterbury - s42A report (PDF File, 3.12MB)
Environment Canterbury - s42A supplementary report of Tim Morris - Dam Engineering (PDF File, 448.74KB)
Environment Canterbury - s42A supplementary report of Adrian Meredith - Surface Water Quality, Aquatic Ecology & Fish Screens (PDF File, 379.49KB)
Environment Canterbury - s42A report -recommended conditions (PDF File, 881.63KB)
Environment Canterbury - s42A report Plan attachments to conditions (PDF File, 3.93MB)
Andrew Metherell - traffic (PDF File, 10.45MB)
Bas Veendrick - hydrology (PDF File, 11.55MB)
Ben Curry - RDRML (PDF File, 12.36MB)
Bryan Peters - construction methodology (PDF File, 23.1MB)
Buddy Mikaere - cultural (PDF File, 619.38KB)
David Barrell - geology and fault lines (PDF File, 1.01MB)
David Greaves - planning and conditions (PDF File, 3.65MB)
Glen Greer - economic impacts (PDF File, 474.78KB)
Graeme McVerry - seismic effects (PDF File, 1.02MB)
Greg Ryder - water quality and aquatic ecology (PDF File, 6.22MB)
Mark Sanders - terrestrial ecology and avifauna (PDF File, 6.58MB)
Nathan Fletcher - dam break (PDF File, 24.35MB)
Nevil Hegley - noise (PDF File, 1.86MB)
Paul Morgan - construction (PDF File, 2.96MB)
Peter Callander - groundwater (PDF File, 3.65MB)
Prue Harwood - air quality (PDF File, 3.62MB)
Steven Woods - Engineering (PDF File, 13.64MB)
Rob Greenaway -recreation (PDF File, 3.5MB)
Rod Clough - archaeology (PDF File, 219.65KB)
Stephen Brown -natural character, landscape, visual, and amenity values (PDF File, 237.32MB)
Submitters evidence of Central South Island Fish and Game - Alasdair Keane (PDF File, 636.59KB)
Submitters evidence of Central South Island Fish and Game Murray Hicks (PDF File, 618.71KB)
Submitters evidence of Central South Island Fish and Game - Mark Webb (PDF File, 346.13KB)
Submitters evidence of Central South Island Fish and Game - Martin Bonnett (PDF File, 449.15KB)
Submitters evidence of Central South Island Fish and Game - Helen Marr (PDF File, 373.31KB)
Submitters evidence of Rangitata Water Limited - Ian McIndoe (PDF File, 151.72KB)
Submitters evidence of the Early Family Trust - Paul Mills (PDF File, 2.06MB)
Applicants Statement of evidence of Paul Morgan, Updated figures 12 April 2018 (PDF File, 3.12MB)
Applicants Statement of evidence of Andrew Metherell - Updated 12 April 2018 (PDF File, 20.23MB)
Applicants Statement of evidence of Bas Veendrick Updated 12 April 2018 (PDF File, 11.99MB)
Applicants Statement of evidence of Steven Woods - Updated 12 April 2018 (PDF File, 34.21MB)
Applicants evidence - conditions attachment Water Storage Commissioning Plan -Hearing Draft (PDF File, 1.63MB)
Applicants evidence - conditions attachment - Dam Safety Management System - Hearing Draft (PDF File, 4.94MB)
Submitters evidence tabled - Hilary Iles (PDF File, 315.3KB)
Submitter evidence of Mandy Waaka-Home (PDF File, 308.29KB)
Submitters evidence of Whitewater NZ and others (PDF File, 804.67KB)
Submitters evidence of Ashburton Lyndhurst Irrigation Ltd - Richard Brunton (PDF File, 4.28MB)
Submitters pre-circulated Supplementary evidence of Douglas Rankin for Whitewater NZ & Others (PDF File, 75.49KB)
Applicants Legal Submissions (PDF File, 824.22KB)
Applicants supplementary and summary evidence of Ben Curry (PDF File, 315.84KB)
Joint witness statement - Planning April 2018 (PDF File, 87.6KB)
Applicants Overview presentation (PPTX File, 11.77MB)
Applicants Presentation Video (Video Clip, 1.23GB)
Applicants Supplementary Summary of Paul Morgan (PDF File, 2.42MB)
Applicants evidence of Ben Curry - US Fish Screen Tour video (MP4 Video, 16.94MB)
Applicants evidence of Ben Curry - Sacramento Rotary Screen video (MP4 Video, 51.54MB)
Applicants evidence of Ben Curry - US Fish Screen Tour Yakima video (MP4 Video, 10.97MB)
Joint hearing, Applicants evidence of Ben Curry - photo 038 (JPEG image, 74.45KB)
Joint hearing, Applicants evidence of Ben Curry - intake+channel+with+screens+up photo (JPEG image, 198.5KB)
Joint hearing, Applicants evidence of Ben Curry (JPEG image, 81.46KB)
Joint hearing, Applicants evidence of Ben Curry - January 2012 progress photo (JPEG image, 75.62KB)
Joint hearing, Applicants evidence of Ben Curry (JPEG image, 201.06KB)
Joint hearing, Applicants evidence of Ben Curry (JPEG image, 366.44KB)
Applicants supplementary and summary statement of Bas Veendrick (PDF File, 2.5MB)
Joint hearing, Applicants evidence, Documents provided to Hearing Panel 26 April 2018
Joint hearing, Applicants summary supplementary evidence of Greg Ryder
Joint hearing, Applicants summary supplementary evidence of Greg RyderGreg Ryder - Rangitata AnzacDay video
Joint hearing, Applicants summary supplementary evidence of Greg Ryder - RDR Fish Bypass 1 video
Joint hearing, Applicants summary supplementary evidence of Greg Ryder - RDR Fish bypass2 video
Joint hearing, Applicants summary supplementary evidence of Greg Ryder - RDR Fish Bypass 3 video
Joint hearing, Applicants summary supplementary evidence of Rob Greenaway
Joint hearing, CRC conditions RDRML working draft v1
Joint hearing, ADC conditions - RDRML working draft v1
Applicants summary and supplementary evidence of Stephen Brown
Joint hearing, Applicants summary and supplementary evidence of Mark Sanders
Submitters evidence of Robert Mortimer
Submitters evidence of John Ell
Submitters evidence of the South Canterbury Salmon Anglers and Riparian Support Trust
Submitters evidence of Edward Wood
Submitters evidence of Tim Wakefield
Submitters evidence of MHV Water -Evan Chisnall
Submitters evidence of MHV Water - Philip Everest
Submitters evidence of Ashburton Lyndhurst Irrigation Company - John van Polanen
Submitters evidence of South Rangitata Huts Association - Chris de Joux
Submitters evidence of New Zealand Salmon Anglers Association -Tony Humphreys
Submitters evidence of Geraldine Water Solutions - Mark Mulligan, Hayden Mackenzie and Nicholas Ward
Submitters evidence of Grant South for Whitewater NZ & others
Submitters further supplementary evidence of Douglas Rankin for Whitewater NZ & others -Figures
Submitters further supplementary evidence of Douglas Rankin for Whitewater NZ & others
Rangitata Diversion Race Management Ltd hearing, presentation by Brett Painter
Submitters Evidence of Paul Hodgson oral
Submitters Evidence of Paul Hodgson - powerpoint