30
Farming
www.guardianonline.co.nz
New pond rules would add costs Some Canterbury farmers and growers may have to fork out $5000 for an engineering report on their farm storage ponds and dams under new regulations proposed by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). IrrigationNZ says the proposed regulations will bring significant and unnecessary costs and farmers should have their say while the rules are out for public consultation. IrrigationNZ chief executive Elizabeth Soal said storage ponds and dams were common on farms and used to improve drought resilience. As well as on-farm ponds and dams, some other forms of water infrastructure will also be captured by the proposed regulations. Soal said central and local government should be supporting appropriate water storage. “While we recognise that large and high-risk dams do need a safety assurance programme in place, the proposed new regulations
Farmers are being urged to have their say on proposed new regulations around on-farm ponds and dams. ASHBURTON GUARDIAN
disincentivise on-farm storage by imposing significant unjustified costs on farmers who have small ponds and dams which have little or no practical safety risks,” she says. The proposed regulations would apply to: dams or ponds which are less than four metres high
and hold 30,000m3 or more, or are four metres or more high and hold 20,000m3 or more. At a minimum, pond or dam owners whose storage meets one of the two criteria above would need to engage a recognised engineer to undertake a Potential Impact
Assessment of the pond or dam (at a cost of around $5000) and submit it to their council. If the Potential Impact Assessment of a pond or dam failure was found to be medium or high then a dam safety assurance programme would be required (at an estimated cost of $6000 to $30,000) along with an annual audit at a cost of around $5000. “We are concerned that the criteria used to assess the effects of large dams is being applied to quite small onfarm ponds and dams. Many storage ponds in New Zealand are also built on plains. These ponds store much of their water below ground level which means that most of the water would not escape even if a failure occurred and any escaped water would rapidly dissipate,” Soal said. ”The proposed new regulations are out of step with international requirements which typically only apply a safety assurance programme to large dams. For example, in the USA dam
safety requirements apply to dams over 7.6 metres high which hold over 61,000m3 and in Queensland they apply to dams over eight metres which hold 500,000m3 or more.” As well as applying to water stored for irrigation, the new regulations could affect farmers who have effluent ponds, flood prevention or capture dams, stock water storage ponds, and canals or races with built-up sides. The regulations have been in the development process for many years and IrrigationNZ has previously submitted to the government on these issues, highlighting how common on-farm storage is and warning about the potential unintended consequences of the legislation. IrrigationNZ is encouraging affected farmers and growers to make a submission expressing their views. More information is online at www.mbie.govt.nz/have-your-say. Consultation closes on August 6.
For your complete
$346
.95+GST
$300
.00+GST
1 year warranty Can be custom made for any make & model Airbag certified seam Ideal protection for fleet vehicles
info@workproof.co.nz www.workproof.co.nz
Build, Alteration or Renovation and Repairs QUALIFIED TRADESMEN
(Licensed Building Practitioners) i