Ag 24 january, 2017

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Tuesday, Jan 24, 2017

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THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MID CANTERBURY

Barley grass a danger to pets

Bringing home the swimming medals

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RDR fish screen fails to deliver

P24

Giving tai chi a go Christine Widdowson (centre) leads a zen group of tai chi enthusiasts at the ‘Have A Go Day’ at the St John Rooms, yesterday. FULL STORY

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BY MICHELLE NELSON

MICHELLE.N@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ

Plans are under way for a new multimillion dollar fish screen to deter salmon from entering the Rangitata Diversion Race system. RDR chief executive Ben Curry said the irrigation company had applied for resource consent to replace the existing bio-acoustic fish fence with some form of physical screen. The existing fence creates a shield of bubbles, which, combined with noise from underwater speakers, divert fish way from the irrigation canal and back into the Rangitata River. It was expected to prevent 80 per cent of salmon from entering the irrigation system, however the results have been disappointing. Recent reports commissioned by Environment Canterbury have shown the fence only to be about 30 per cent effective. “The current system hasn’t met our expectations and hasn’t met the expectations of the manufacturers,” Curry said. “The biggest issues are the turbidity (water colour) and the speed that it moves through the screen.” The RDR takes 30 cubic metres a second (cumecs) from the river and that is bound to have some impact on salmon numbers, Curry said. However, he said that effect has been known for the last 70 years, since the irrigation scheme was developed, and recent concerns about the low numbers of fish returning to spawning grounds cannot be blamed solely on the RDR. “Despite the disappointment with the

Ben Curry performance of the current fish screen, we have a fish screen there. While it is not diverting 80 per cent of the fish it is diverting some of the fish. I would argue that there has been an improvement in the past 10 years,” Curry said. The company’s management board have been working with experts to develop a design for a physical screen which has been submitted to Environment Canterbury for approval. The next hurdle will be to find a costefficient way to stop the high levels of sand and vegetation suspended in the river water choking a physical screen. He anticipates the new fence will be installed in the same general location as the current screen, near the RDR intake to comply with an existing Water Order on the river. The resource consent is tied to the proposal to build a large scale water storage facility further downstream and Curry anticipates Environment Canterbury commissioners will hear the matter in the next few months.

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