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Local MAR project leads the way A major groundwater replenishing project in the Ashburton District could pave the way for other regions dealing with declining groundwater and water quality. The Managed Aquifer Recharge, or MAR, pilot project at Lagmhor is already proving successful in raising groundwater levels and diluting nitrate levels, and there are plans for more recharge sites. Retired hydrologist and member of the Ashburton Water Zone Committee John Waugh says MARs are the future and the Mid Canterbury project will be being closely watched by other regions. The pilot project is essentially a pond designed to leak water into underground aquifers. Waugh said he had viewed a similar scheme near San Francisco in 1976. “It is nothing new and it does work.” A suite of MARs across the Canterbury Plains could help improve water storage in
Linda Clarke
SENIOR REPORTER
aquifers and dilute nitrates, he said. As farmers have converted borderdyke irrigation to spray irrigation, and stockwater races have disappeared, water no longer leaks into underground aquifers. Combined with declining rainfall, MARs were a way to put water back into the system, he said. The Ashburton pilot has been endorsed by the water zone committee but it will need another $750,000 to complete the five-year trial. Expanding the project with another four sites over the next 10 years would cost around $11 million. Mayfield farmer Rab McDowell, a member of the MAR pilot working group,
MARs are the future of groundwater replenishment in Mid Canterbury.
said it was a significant environment project and would help farmers meet new environmental targets around water use and nitrate leaching. Farmers and irrigation companies do expect to pay a major share of the costs but targeted or general rates could be used as another funding stream as the work benefited the wider district. McDowell said results of the pilot project indicated other sites in different parts of the district would benefit. Sites in the upper plains would be useful for recharging
aquifers, sites in the middle plains could be used for diluting groundwater nitrates, especially around known hotspots, and sites in the lower plains could augment streams and drains. As well as money, the trial needs water and the zone committee will write to the Ashburton District Council to ask if it can keep using a council water-take consent (previously used for stockwater races) to continue putting water into the trial site. Zone committee member Jackie Wright said she hoped
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farmers would continue their sustainability work on farm and not rely on the MAR to produce the lion’s share of environmental improvements. McDowell said finding funding and water for the programme were the next challenges. With Water Conservation Orders on both the Rangitata and Rakaia Rivers, water could have to come from already-consented takes. The working group will now look for people who could implement expansion of the groundwater replenishment programme.
LOCAL LAUGHS Q. Who takes care of the farm when the farmer is sick? A. The pharmacist
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