Category: Environment Canterbury Regional Council

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12,000 wood burners expired, but help is here

Source: Environment Canterbury Regional Council

How can you help?

The easiest way to see if you’re helping or hindering air quality in Canterbury is searching for your address in the Solid Fuel Burner Database to check when your burner is due to expire. If the information there is wrong, please contact Advisory Services to correct this. 

Check if you live in one of our eight clean air zones across the region. They cover Christchurch, Rangiora, Kaiapoi, Ashburton, Timaru, Geraldine, Waimate, and Washdyke.  

To reduce home heating emissions, low-emission burners are being phased out in five zones: Christchurch, Rangiora, Kaiapoi, Ashburton, and Timaru.

We all want clean air to breathe in Waitaha/Canterbury. You can help improve our region’s air quality by ensuring you keep in mind for your domestic fire: 

  • Burning dry, seasoned wood from Trusted Good Wood Merchants
  • Getting your fire going quickly and keep it burning hot
  • Don’t damp your fire down over night
  • Switch to a non-emitting home heating source such as a heat pump; or
  • Switch to a pellet fire or ULEB; and
  • Don’t burn treated timber or rubbish 
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Councils welcome Minister’s decision to call in applications

Source: Environment Canterbury Regional Council

Councils welcome Minister’s decision to call in applications | Environment Canterbury

Date: | Author: Attributed to Aurora Grant, Consents Planning Manager (Environment Canterbury) and Jonts McKerrow, Regulatory and Compliance Group Manager (Waimate District Council). 

Environment Canterbury © 2023
Retrieved: 9:35am, Wed 06 Sep 2023
https://www.ecan.govt.nz/get-involved/news-and-events/2023/councils-welcome-ministers-decision-to-call-in-applications/

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Discharge to waterway, Saltwater Creek

Source: Environment Canterbury Regional Council

Discharge to waterway, Saltwater Creek | Environment Canterbury

Date:

Update 1: Friday 01 September, 2023

  • We’ve had reports of a large discharge from a factory east of the Ashley township.
  • The spill appears to have stopped.
  • The wastewater is toxic to fish and other aquatic life.
  • So far we know bullies and tuna/eels are affected.
  • People and animals should avoid contact with water in Saltwater Creek and the estuary – and should not fish, whitebait or harvest mahinga kai.
  • If you see affected wildlife, do not touch it – call  0800 765 588.
  • An incident response team is on its way to the scene. An update will be provided once the team has assessed the site.

Bullies and tuna/eels are among the fish affected.

Environment Canterbury © 2023
Retrieved: 1:14pm, Tue 05 Sep 2023
https://www.ecan.govt.nz/get-involved/news-and-events/zone-news/waimakariri/discharge-to-waterway-saltwater-creek/

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Water zone committee proud to back environmental projects

Source: Environment Canterbury Regional Council

Water zone committee proud to back environmental projects | Environment Canterbury

Date: | Author: Glen Smith, Ōrāri Temuka Ōpihi Pareora (OTOP) Water Zone Committee chair

As we get set for the start of spring (hurrah!), I wanted to take the opportunity to tell you a bit more about our water zone committee, and some of the fantastic work we’re supporting in your area.

Water zone committees are made up of community members, rūnanga and councils.

We make recommendations to Environment Canterbury about how to allocate funding for community-led projects that help us deliver our Action Plan goals.

For me, one of the most satisfying aspects of committee life is watching these projects flourish.

Glen Smith, OTOP Water Zone Committee chair

Enhancing local ecosystems

Restoration work being carried out at Te Kopi-O-Te Ōpihi/Burkes Pass, is one such example.

This project will eventually transform a stretch of the upper Ōpihi River adjacent to the Burkes Pass township by restoring an ecosystem and enhancing the natural character of the area.

It will be completed in stages and is a joint effort between Te Kete Tipuranga o Huirapa Ltd (Arowhenua Native Nursery), the Burkes Pass Heritage Trust and Headley Greene Farm.

The area has significant cultural value for mana whenua as it was once used as a major travel route and was an important place for gathering kai and resources.

Key work completed since spring last year includes clearing willows from about half the overall 3.4 hectare site and the planting of an additional 1,600 natives – equipped with rabbit protectors.

Last year the water zone committee supported the project with more than $13,800 of its Action Plan budget and more help is being provided this year.

Preserving culturally significant sites

Another area of work we’re committed to is the restoration and protection of our precious Māori rock art sites, known as tuhituhi o neherā.

The zone committee organised and attended an education session at the Ōpihi site in 2022 and we’re in the process of planning another.

We’ve also funded hundreds of native plants at these locations to help improve the biodiversity of the area.

The rock art is taonga/treasure to mana whenua and Ngāi Tahu, and it’s been fascinating learning more about these drawings (some of which could be up to 1,000 years old) and the efforts to preserve them.

The zone committee organised and attended a public field trip to the Ōpihi Māori rock art site

Restoring Waitarakao/Washdyke Lagoon

OTOP Water Zone Committee deputy chair, Chris Konings (left), with members of the Our Waitarakao team at a recent drop-in event.

Apply for funding

On that note, if you’re involved with a project that helps improve water management or enhances biodiversity, and could do with some financial support, consider applying for Action Plan funding.

For more information, check out ecan.govt.nz/otopcommittee.

Environment Canterbury © 2023
Retrieved: 1:15pm, Tue 05 Sep 2023
https://www.ecan.govt.nz/get-involved/news-and-events/zone-news/orari-temuka-opihi-pareroa/water-zone-committee-proud-to-back-environmental-projects/

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Improved resilience for river flow monitoring systems

Source: Environment Canterbury Regional Council

A big part of the upgrades has been ensuring these systems can use two types of data transmission so if, for example, the cellular networks become overloaded in a flood event, we can access the data through satellite or radio instead.  

Previously, some sites, such as the Kowhai River in Kaikōura only had one water level recorder and one rain gauge, putting it at risk. We are using dual sensors and recorders, sometimes using multiple sites within a catchment and using external cellular and satellite providers where possible to safeguard communications avenues.   

“We are building resiliency and redundancy into the network,” Anthony said.  

“It’s about not putting all your eggs in one basket so we can maintain our monitoring capabilities in the case of extreme events.”

We have identified more than 30 locations across the network which would benefit from being upgraded to a ‘one in 200-year’ event. Five of these upgrades have now been completed.  

“Resourcing has been our biggest hurdle, particularly as we were hit by later rainfall events, including further damage from the July 2022 floods in Omarama,” Anthony said.  

Funding for climate change-induced weather

Climate change-induced events across the country have highlighted the urgent need to continue investing in flood protection infrastructure, including works such as the upgrading of our water level monitoring equipment.  

Co-investing with central government means being able to continue with important flood protection and related works such as the upgrade to our water level monitoring network, projects that would have otherwise taken decades to fund through the current rating districts and undertake works to protect communities from changes that we know are coming, benefiting communities both now and for the future.  

Read the call from Te Uru Kahika to Central Government for long-term co-investment. 

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Co-investment critical to the future of flood protection

Source: Environment Canterbury Regional Council

Riverbed management

Rivers have many functions. They carry millions of tonnes of sediment, are home to natural habitat, are teeming with biodiversity and provide mahinga kai and recreational values for those who connect with them.  

Historical imagery shows a reduction in open gravel area and general increase in weeds on previously active riverbeds across the region meaning they require active intervention to manage food risk. Weeds tend to slow flood flows, raise water levels, encourage deposition of sediment, and potentially force floodwaters around obstructions.  

Flooding does a good job of flushing sediment out of river systems but as the flow is reduced, particularly in larger braided river systems, the sustained flow that historically carried sediment and gravel out to sea even when not in flood, has reduced. 

In some rivers across the region there is a gravel aggradation issue and in some places the bed is building up. We encourage gravel extraction in those areas as much as we can. 

Gravel extraction generally compliments other flood protection measures such as maintaining vegetated buffers, construction of flood protection works (such as stopbanks and rock erosion control), land use planning and emergency preparedness. Flood protection schemes are designed and maintained to certain levels of flood flow and there will be flood events that exceed those capacities. In these instances, we expect that out of river flooding may occur. 

Community input 

Ensuring those who live alongside rivers have a say in developing solutions for flood protection is critical to the work we do. We must also balance the ability of the community to pay and ensure continued protection while any change is investigated and implemented. 

We are currently reviewing the regional planning framework for Canterbury. This process seeks to align our planning framework with national direction such as the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 (NPS-FM), including Te Mana o te Wai. 

This includes the current ‘Our Future, Canterbury’ campaign, which is gathering community views on what we should prioritise. It will inform the 2024 Long-Term Plan and then the drafting of our Regional Policy Statement.

Header image: Rakitata/Rangitata River.