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