Who is behind the Hurunui Water Project?
The Hurunui Water Project has been nearly a decade in the making, arising from various groups interested in the sustainable use of water for irrigation and hydro generation. The common ingredient is an interest in the future well-being of Hurunui District. The current shareholders of HWP are the Hurunui Irrigation and Power Trust (HIPT), the owner of Eskhead Station and MainPower. The chair of the HWP Board is Hawarden farmer Mike Hodgen.
HIPT represents the interests of more than 200 Hurunui farmers who formed a trust in 2002 to look at the opportunities for using water in the district.
Eskhead Station is the location of one of the water storage sites the Hurunui Water Project is proposing. The owner of Eskhead Station, David Teece, supports the project and has provided development assistance.
MainPower has an interest in the regional development of the Hurunui District and in hydro-generation possibilities.
Until October 2009 Ngai Tahu Property was also represented on the HWP Board. The property company has resigned its board position and put its shares in trust. This allows Ngai Tahu Property time to consider their water interests more widely from a neutral position.
Funding of the project?
In 2002, the Hurunui Community Water Development Project working group was formed with representation from Enterprise North Canterbury, the HIPT, Ngai Tahu Property, MainPower and the owner of Eskhead Station. Since then the Ministry of Agriculture’s Sustainable Farming Fund (SFF) has allocated grants to the project in 2003 and 2008 of $225,000 and $385,000 respectively. The funds have been used to assess the feasibility of a storage scheme and explore possible locations and options for water storage. Both of these grants were matched $ for $ by local contributions. In August 2008, the Ministry of Agriculture’s Community Irrigation Fund (CIF) granted $50,000 to the project. Again this had to be matched $ for $ by local contributions. An additional $62,500 was awarded by CIF in 2009. CIF’s funding has been used to develop the governance structure for the project and pay for project management.
The Hurunui Community Water Development Project was renamed the Hurunui Water Project in mid 2008.
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“The future of the district is reliant on water coming through, or else we will go backwards.” Andrew Mulholland - Farmer (click here for Andrew's full story)
"I became involved in this project because I believe a large scale irrigation scheme in the Hawarden/Waikari/Scargill area is the only way we can improve the economy of the district, and ensure a prosperous future for the local community. Mike Hodgen - Chair HWP (click here for Mike's full story)