Ten major water users who have failed to report their annual water usage to Environment Southland are in breach of their consents, and could face instant fines of up to $200 a day until they provide the right information.
Councillors were not in a tolerant mood when Compliance Manager Mark Hunter disclosed the extent of the tardy reporting at the Environmental Management Committee meeting. His staff have already issued abatement notices to the ten consent holders who are in breach of their water permits. Each has also been required to install an automated reporting system, and e-mail daily accounts of their water use in the meantime.
Cr Diane Wilson, who chairs the Council’s Consents Committee, said the failure to report water use was a major problem that affected the Council’s ability to manage water use – particularly in areas where there was a shortage.
“These people have applied for consents to take water for irrigation; they have promised to do things, then they have turned round and it seems to me that they are deliberately failing in their obligations. If they want the right to use take water then the very least they can do is abide by the conditions,” Cr Wilson said. “We are trying to manage what is becoming a scarce resource and we are not getting the information back.”
Cr Ali Timms said that Northern Southland residents had previously expressed concerns to her about the extent of non-compliance with conditions on permits to take water. “It makes it really difficult for our scientists to allocate the water fairly and equitably if we do not have all the information. There is a very limited amount of water in a number of aquifers and catchments. A lot of people don’t have water available to them and the community looks very poorly on the non-supply of data.”
Mr Hunter said some of the permit holders he had spoken to about the issue had indicated that they would “come up with the numbers” – implying that the information would not necessarily be accurate, and Councillors took a dim view of that suggestion as well.
Crs Derek Angus and Ross Cockburn successfully moved that permit holders who failed to provide accurate and timely data on water use on a daily basis should be fined $200 a day until they complied with the reporting conditions.

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