Our community and environment.
The Waitaki Irrigators Collective was formed in 2010 to represent the interests of the five irrigation schemes, and a society of individual irrigators, that take water from Lake Waitaki and the Lower Waitaki River (or its tributaries and connected groundwater) and use that water to irrigate land downstream of the Waitaki Dam.
The Waitaki River is one of the largest braided river systems in New Zealand. By flow rate, it is the fourth largest in the country, with an average flow at Kurow of 359 cubic metres per second.
WIC represents over 600 irrigators, irrigating approximately 85,000 hectares across North Otago and South Canterbury. This is approximately 12 per cent of the irrigated land in New Zealand.
The schemes and individuals use irrigation water to produce food and fibre from agriculture, horticulture, arable crops, and viticulture. Some of the schemes also provide water for stock, industrial/commercial use, town drinking water supply, sport club irrigation, and firefighting.
As users of a natural resource, and stewards of the land with long-term interests in ensuring its ongoing productive potential, WIC’s members recognise the need to protect the surrounding environment.
WIC’s role is not operational but is to advocate on behalf of all irrigators in the Lower Waitaki River Catchment on common issues.
WIC’s shareholders comprise the following:
Morven, Glenavy, Ikawai Irrigation Company
The Morven, Glenavy, Ikawai Irrigation Company (MGI), which irrigates over 28,000 hectares on the north bank of the Waitaki River.
North Otago Irrigation Company
The North Otago Irrigation Company (NOIC) scheme was officially opened in October 2006 and irrigates over 20,000 hectares across the North Otago Downlands, extending as far south as Herbert.
Kurow-Duntroon Irrigation Company
The Kurow-Duntroon Irrigation Company (KDIC) has a siphon intake structure attached to the Waitaki Dam, on Lake Waitaki and services 4000 hectares of irrigated land below the Dam.
Lower Waitaki Irrigation Company
The Lower Waitaki Irrigation Company (LWIC) is a community irrigation scheme which irrigates over 22,000 hectares on the Waitaki plains to the North-West of Oamaru.
Maerewhenua District Water Resource Company
The Maerewhenua District Water Resource Company is a small community irrigation scheme irrigating 3,000 hectares around the Duntroon and Maerewhenua areas on the South Bank of the Waitaki River.
Waitaki Independent Irrigators Incorporated (WIII)
The Incorporated Society is made up of those irrigators with a resource consent to extract surface or groundwater from the Lower Waitaki catchment for irrigation purposes. Collectively, WIII’s members irrigate around 8,000 hectares.
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