#FortheWaitaki

By Palantae

PledgeMe.Project

Community,

NZ $15,235 pledged

114 people pledged

Closed

NZ $15,000 minimum target

This campaign was successful and closed on 31/05/2015 at 9:00 PM.

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About

#FortheWaitaki

Project 2014-11-16 11:36:29 +1300

Buy a share in the Waitaki River and help us defend the minimum flow!

Environment Canterbury have recently applied to reduce the minimum flow in the Lower Waitaki River from 150 cumecs to 102 cumecs, for periods over summer. A lower minimum flow would risk even poorer water quality, more didymo infestation, greater exposure of island-nesting birds to predation, and reduction of angling opportunities by up to 30% in the lower river, amongst other things.

Here at the Lower Waitaki River Management Society, we're raising funds to enable us to defend the existing 150 cumec minimum flow at upcoming Hearings, where a Commissioner will decide whether to accept the proposal.You can support our efforts by purchasing a NZ$100 limited edition (1/150) Waitaki River Share Certificate, representing a nominal One Cumec of the minimum environmental flow of the Lower Waitaki River. This unique certificate is created by renowned local artist Donna Demente - a piece of local history that we anticipate will become a collector's item!

The same legislation that removed ECan's elected councillors also prevents the Commissioner's decision from being appealed to the Environment Court, making it even more important that we have a strong and compelling case at this upcoming Hearing. With help from the Society, more than 80% of the ~500 public submissions were against reducing the minimum flow. Please help us to fund a strong team of experts that can take the public's message to the Commissioner: leave the minimum flow at 150 cumecs!

By supporting this campaign, you're helping keep the Waitaki swimmable, fishable and awe-inspiring!

New to Pledgeme? Go to the top right of this page and click 'Join Now' to create an account - it only takes a minute. Once you're signed in you can use your credit card to pre-purchase a Waitaki River Share Certificate. PledgeMe is a secure website and your credit card details are safe with them. The bank transactions will occur at the 31 May 2015, provided we reach our funding target of NZ$15,000. Please help to increase support for the Waitaki River by sharing this campaign with your social networks.

Please note: the Share Certificates are nominal and do not confer any additional ownership rights to the Waitaki River!

Background: the current minimum flow and why it should be retained

The Lower Waitaki River has a minimum flow limit of 150 cubic meters per second (cumecs), set in 2006 in the Waitaki Regional Plan. When the river flow gets near this limit, water users such as irrigation companies and electricity generators must modify their us of the river to protect its ecological value.

The minimum flow of rate of 150 cumecs was set through a robust democratic processs that considered submissions from 1,300 individuals and companies. The year-long process heard the opinions of fishers, farmers, jet boaters, energy generators, tangata whenua, conservationists and many others. There was also comprehensive expert consultation with economists, hydrologists and conservation biologists.

Eight years later, the Canterbury Regional Council (ECan) is now proposing several changes around the management of the Waitaki River to account for the fact that they have allocated more water to energy generation and irrigation companies than the River can reliably provide within the current Plan's flow regime.

What Environment Canterbury should do is take ownership of the problem by reallocating the existing abstraction permits above the existing minimum flow when they come due. It's called a 'minimum flow' for a reason!

What Environment Canterbury proposes to do is satisfy only commercial interests by lowering the minimum flow - which is completely unacceptable to the Society.

About us: the Lower Waitaki River Management Society

The Lower Waitaki River Management Society has been a strong voice for the protection and enhancement of the Waitaki River's in-stream values, since it was established in 2005. The Society was an important contributor to the development of the Waitaki Regional Plan, and has been a strong advocate on matters affecting the River's intrinsic values since the Plan became operative. We are determined to see the current minimum flow in the Plan retained, and see any change as a derrogation of the contract established with the whole community during the setting of the original water allocation plan.

Comments

Updates 3

Thank you everyone for your generous donations, and congratulations to those of you who will be receiving a unique Lower Waitaki River Share Certificate. Your financial contributions and the heartwarming support we have received - particularly in the last 48 hours - are a really significant boost to our group as we head into the hearing, to defend the existing minimum flow.

With the deadline only ten minutes away it appears that we might not quite reach our target through individual 'Share Certificate' sales. However, given that we are so close to the target, friends of the Society have this evening decided to make a lump sum donation to ensure the target is met. It's thanks to you getting us close enough to the target that this was possible!

The hearing for the Plan Change begins on June 9th. We believe we have a strong case. We have every hope of preserving the existing 150 cumec minimum flow, and all of the ecological and recreational values that supports. You can read more about the hearing, and all the associated evidence over at http://ecan.govt.nz/our-responsibilities/regional-plans/Pages/wcwarp-pc3.aspx.

Please follow our Facebook page For The Waitaki (www.facebook.com/ForTheWaitaki) to stay up-to-date on the hearing and future Plan Change matters, and to help us grow the community of support around the Waitaki River. If you'd like to join the Society's mailing list, please [email protected].

With much gratitude, from the Lower Waitaki River Management Society

To all our generous donors,

Firstly, thank you so much for your support of our fundraising campaign 'For the Waitaki'. It's been really heartening for our small group to feel that there are wonderful people all over New Zealand, keen to support this cause.

In just over a week, our experts will be making our case to the commissioners, explaining why it is so important not to reduce the Waitaki River's minimum flow by a third during summer months. If we meet our target, we'll be able to ensure these volunteers aren't left completely out of pocket for their efforts!

We've one final request, to give us the best chance of meeting our campaign target. As you may know, with PledgeMe, it's 'all or nothing', and with just 36 hours left, it's coming down to the wire. We need to find 80 keen river-loving kiwis by Sundayevening. We know they're out there! Can you help us locate them?

If you're keen and able to help, there are three ways you can do so this weekend:

- JOIN our Facebook page, and SHARE our updates over the weekend

- SHARE our current Facebook plea, encouraging others to pitch in - http://on.fb.me/1G2kIqM

- FORWARD this email to people who may be able to help

We're not quite sure if we'll still be able to contact you if we don't meet our target - so just in case our line of communication is closed, keep a watch on our Facebook page for updates during the hearings...!

From the team at the Lower Waitaki River Management Society

Background

The Lower Waitaki River is a braided river system, home to many rare native bird and fish species. A plan has been lodged to reduce the minimum flow in the lower river by a third during the summer months, and there are serious concerns about the impact that this might have on ecological and recreational values. As the Lower Waitaki River Management Society, we're working with experts to defend the existing flow, at an upcoming public hearing. You can read more about why we think this is so important, over at www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/2868-savethewaitaki

To support the case, we're selling 150 limited edition nominal 'One Cumec Waitaki River Share Certificates', designed by a local artist - a unique fundraising campaign aiming to raise $15,000. With 70 'shares' sold, we're on the hunt for another 80 generous, river-loving kiwis in the last two days of the campaign - can you help us find them?!

I have included some brief instructions about how to join Pledgeme and support this campaign. Happy pledging and thanks for your support!

Pledgers 114

LWRMS

31/05/2015 at 8:52pm

"on behalf of friends of the Waitaki River"

Emma McFadyen

31/05/2015 at 8:40pm

Anonymous pledger

31/05/2015 at 8:35pm

Sheena Charleson

31/05/2015 at 8:35pm

Joanna McVeagh

31/05/2015 at 8:14pm

LWRMS

31/05/2015 at 8:12pm

"on behalf of Alex Borrie"

Anonymous pledger

31/05/2015 at 8:01pm

Cynthia Roberts

31/05/2015 at 7:46pm

"Thanks for taking up the battle for this river"

Margaret Cahill

31/05/2015 at 7:09pm

Anonymous pledger

31/05/2015 at 7:06pm

Dan and Kat moffat

31/05/2015 at 6:46pm

Thomas Hayward

31/05/2015 at 6:40pm

Tiaki Coates

31/05/2015 at 6:28pm

Sarah Crowe

31/05/2015 at 5:19pm

Terry MacTavish

31/05/2015 at 5:14pm

"Let the rivers flow!"

Anonymous pledger

31/05/2015 at 3:58pm

Veronica

31/05/2015 at 3:55pm

LWRMS

31/05/2015 at 3:25pm

"on behalf of B D Dungey"

LWRMS

31/05/2015 at 3:24pm

"on behalf of David and Chris Henderson"

Mitchell Frewt

31/05/2015 at 3:12pm

Paul Mepham

31/05/2015 at 1:26pm

"For the kids."

Patricia Scott

31/05/2015 at 1:17pm

"Thanks for your hard work to keep the Waitaki as wild as possible."

Mike Joy

31/05/2015 at 12:52pm

Derek Friend

31/05/2015 at 11:56am

John Sanders-Water Rights Trust

31/05/2015 at 11:31am

Anonymous pledger

31/05/2015 at 10:57am

"For Laurence Family, who love rivers. Catriona and Chas, Congratulations on 35th Wedding Anniversary today. Happy Birthdays, James and Karl!"

Anonymous pledger

31/05/2015 at 10:41am

Joshua Hayward Fogg

30/05/2015 at 9:17pm

"A small amount of money can go along way! Hope you guys can help too!"

Jonathan

30/05/2015 at 6:53pm

RS Haar

30/05/2015 at 6:31pm

Followers 7

Followers of #FortheWaitaki

Ulla Reymann

Frances Whitlock

Terry MacTavish

Graham Bull

Ana Richards

Heather Machin

Veronica

#FortheWaitaki

Project 2014-11-16 11:36:29 +1300

Buy a share in the Waitaki River and help us defend the minimum flow!

By supporting this campaign, you're helping keep the Waitaki swimmable, fishable and awe-inspiring!

Please note: the Share Certificates are nominal and do not confer any additional ownership rights to the Waitaki River!

Background: the current minimum flow and why it should be retained

What Environment Canterbury proposes to do is satisfy only commercial interests by lowering the minimum flow - which is completely unacceptable to the Society.

About us: the Lower Waitaki River Management Society