About the project 

Meridian and the South Canterbury Irrigation Trust applied for resource consents in 2006 to develop a scheme to irrigate up to 40,000 hectares of land in the Waimate area in South Canterbury.

This project is known as Hunter Downs Irrigation. Meridian is developing the proposed scheme in partnership with the South Canterbury Irrigation Trust.

Latest developments

Environment Canterbury approved resource consents for the Hunter Downs Irrigation project in April 2010.

Various parties appealed the resource consent decision, and the matter was referred to the Environment Court.

In September 2011 the Hunter Downs Irrigation team reached agreement and the consent order was granted by the Environment Court. 

Why build an irrigation scheme here?

The South Canterbury area has long been considered ‘water short’, and the continued growth of our horticulture, sheep, beef and dairy farming is dependent on the secure and reliable availability of water.

The Hunter Downs irrigation project would provide opportunities for land use diversification, with water diverted from the Waitaki River into an irrigation intake near Stonewall.

From there the water would be moved northwards through about 120 km of canals and pipelines for delivery to farms.

Geotechnical investigations

Meridian and the South Canterbury Irrigation Trust have begun limited geotechnical investigations to help determine the scheme’s engineering design, infrastructure layout and cost. 

This involves material sampling and testing. We are currently trialling constructions of embankments to understand how the soils and gravels can best be used for construction.

The geotechnical information and other factors, including ground topography, irrigation demand and the cost will be considered when determining the final scheme design and layout.