Meridian mixing power and water

Electricity generator Meridian Energy is entering the irrigation business with a joint initiative to build and operate a $150 million scheme for coastal south Canterbury.

The scheme could irrigate up to 40,000ha of coastal Waimate and Timaru with water from the Waitaki River.

Meridian and its partner, the South Canterbury Irrigation Trust, want the minimum flow of the river set by a new water allocation plan lowered to accommodate the project.

The scheme has the potential to create up to 400 on-farm jobs and another 1200 in the community.

It would be double the size of the existing Morven-Glenavy (22,000ha) and Lower Waitaki (19,000ha) schemes..

Meridian chief executive Keith Turner and trust chairman Don McFarlane said the initiative could be the last chance for widespread irrigation in the area.

"It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," McFarlane said.

The water would be pumped up about 140m and delivered by canals and pipes to between 200 and 300 farms.

Meridian would hold the water rights, plan, build and own the scheme and farmers would then pay it for the water - similar to electricity consumers paying a power lines company.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES