Improving the water quality of South Canterbury rivers must also require stopping more farmland intensification, a Forest and Bird spokesman says.
Forest and Bird South Canterbury field officer Fraser Ross said finding solutions to improve water quality was important because water extraction and farming consents had been over-allocated for years.
Mr Ross gave a presentation to the Orari-Temuka-Opihi-Pareora (OTOP) zone water management committee during the initial consultation process last month.
He said while Environment Canterbury (ECan) had come up with plans to protect biodiversity in the South Canterbury area in the past, there was now ''so little of it left'' it remained to be seen if the area's biodiversity would improve under new river quality solutions.
