Andrew Curtis: Stable water supply is key

The country has plenty of water but often not where it is needed.

There has been a lot in the media over the past few weeks about New Zealand's regions suffering from neglect while the big cities get attention and money. Some of this is exaggeration and some of it simply untrue, but there is strong evidence to suggest growth is lagging in regions like Northland, Bay of Plenty and Hawke's Bay and there is an obvious solution to this problem: water storage and irrigation development.

This is a viable way to regenerate our regions. You only need to look at Otago and Canterbury to see how water has affected these economies. In North Otago, the development of the North Otago Irrigation Company contributes at least 5 per cent or $48m annually to district-wide GDP and maintains 274 jobs.

Andrew Curtis

In Timaru, the nearby Opuha Dam and related irrigation created 480 jobs and adds $41m a year to local GDP. Timaru has been outperforming comparable regions like Wairarapa at 2.3 per cent compared to 1.3 per cent respectively. And everyone knows that irrigation in Ashburton has transformed it into a powerhouse of New Zealand's agricultural economy with the area accounting for more than 43 per cent of national arable farm production.

The irrigation in these regions supports much more than just dairy, it supports meat and horticulture.

Horticulture now contributes $7b to New Zealand's GDP and the opportunities in this sector should not be ignored. But this farming diversification can only be achieved with a stable water supply.

Northland has been subject to droughts for many years and in 2013 suffered the driest summer in 70 years. This problem is not going to go away. In fact, meteorologists are anticipating an El Nino weather pattern in Australasia, which means more hot, dry weather is on the way.

Development agencies in Northland are fully aware of these risks and, in a joint project with central government, the regional council and Northland Inc, have commissioned a new report to scope out water storage and infrastructure in the area. The study should be complete by September.

This is a sensible step towards stabilising a notoriously volatile regional economy and is a good way of using our national asset, water. Because, despite being a water-rich country, we are also a land of extremes. We have water but it is in the wrong place at wrong time and we need to better harvest and distribute a small percentage of the abundant water resource to benefit all.

To revitalise our depressed regions, as has already happened in Canterbury and North Otago, water storage and irrigation infrastructure development must improve. It's quite simple: more needs to be done with less interference to get these infrastructure projects funded and off the ground if we want to avoid mass urbanisation in Auckland and create thriving hubs in all our regions.

-Andrew Curtis, IrrigationNZ CEO