Launch of Water Rights Trust

Thursday 15 May 2003

Diana, Lady Isaac, trustees, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me much pleasure to be here to help at the launch of another watchdog group for our water issues.

Here at the start of the Water Rights Trust is a good time to share with you that one of the most volatile issues in politics is water issues.

If you want to stir the letters to the Editor folk up, just suggest either fluoridating our water or charging households for use of water. Either idea gets those pens out and passions running high.

Recently there have also been some very strong emotions on the loose about one of the other basics of existence, electricity supplies.

I have been saying with that issue that finger-pointing and blame is not the way to fix it. What we need is for all our community, and its leadership to work together to fix it.

I have similar feelings about water issues.

Water is simply too important to run the risk of setting up warring water tribes. We must, and should be ready to work together toward not only managing our water resources but also restoring them.

Our major draw-card for skilled immigrants and tourists, domestic and from overseas, is increasingly our natural environment.

There is a hugely compelling case to be made that if we fail to protect and enhance what we have, we will lose a valuable point of difference in the global sense. That is, of course, completely minor compared to our commitment to our own people and way of life.

I spoke at the opening of the Art Gallery about our tradition here of inter-generational generosity. Of how we have taken a longer term view than many other places with an eye to looking out for our future generations.

That is a great tradition that I see tonight potentially adding further good stewardship of our resources to the future. My own Council now runs on a triple bottom line basis.

Everything gets weighed up for its economic, environmental and social value and impacts. Nothing is more fundamental to life than water.

In a global context we are at the start of a century when resource battles are likely between people and nations over control and access to water.

It is as I have already said, a hugely emotive and primal issue, here and elsewhere. It calls on us all to act in an adult and responsible way that cuts across boundaries, both of orthodoxy and attitude.

One of the other great points of difference about Canterbury and Christchurch is that we have huge levels of consensus across the community.

This too is a resource of great value which despite my own periodic lapses into Irish political traditions, I too ultimately respect and value.

There are few of us here tonight who do not enjoy a good dash of discord from time to time. I think that’s fine so long as past a point we are still willing to work toward common good goals.

We need to work with like-minded groups and people to preserve, manage and enhance our water.

Sustainable development of the region’s water resources is vital if our primary production backbone is to stay healthy and productive.

I believe we can develop win/win solutions if you are ready to reach out to other groups with similar goals.

The Central Plains Water Trust is one group that springs to mind. Others will doubtless develop and evolve. We also need to be careful that we do not provide the raw feed for emotive headlines that distort our water realities.

The Canterbury Strategic Water Study, published last year, found we have enough water in Canterbury, sufficient to meet the needs of both development and the environment.

It concluded that storage of high flows from our largest glacier fed rivers will let us meet future demand for water without creating a negative demand.

The Study suggested that if we adopted integrated management of the whole resource and used the larger rivers for abstraction we could in fact revive and renew the smaller stressed rivers.

As with many politicised issues, the reality is neither as good as some would have us believe, nor as bad as other pushers of other barrows would have us believe.

What water does need is active watchers and guardians. This new group helps meet that need.

I look forward to seeing the Water Rights Trust working in this field as another strong, informed voice for water use and respect.