After a period of consultation with interested parties the BCI Scheme has lodged applications for a suite of consents to enable the construction of a new intake and settling pond at Barrhill, a seven kilometer pipeline in the Rakaia River bed, and the installation of a small hydro generation plant.  This primary infrastructure will deliver to two distribution lines, the Barrhill Line and the Chertsey Line.

The scheme will soon be working with land owners and potential irrigators to finalise the layout of the distribution network.  The aim is to begin construction in autumn 2014 if the consent process is complete and irrigator support sufficient.

The BCI Scheme has been granted a land use consent by Environment Canterbury which allows water to be supplied to new irrigators provided that all properties supplied water by the scheme do not in aggregate exceed a nutrient cap.

The scheme has developed a nutrient management policy which allows it to assess information provided with an application for water to establish if the environmental performance of the intended use of the water meets the expectation of the scheme and will not lead to the scheme exceeding the consented nutrient cap.  If new users of the water meet the scheme’s expected environmental performance, and they comply with the scheme’s requirements around farm environment plans and audit processes, they have the ability to change land use without requiring an individual land use consent. The consent is granted for a term of five years and the position may change in the future.

The consent is available for viewing here – Land Use Consent CRC141388