Residents Concerned By Opihi Levels

By COMER p By Rachael

A once idyllic, water-filled swimming hole has turned into a dry horror for Leah Hessell and Dylan James.

The Pleasant Point couple say the section of the Opihi River which backs on to their Stratheona Road property has been ruined by dairy farmers using the water for irrigating.

“I went down to the river the other day and I just cried when I saw it,” Leah said.

“There’s barely water in the river. The actual swimming hole has water but all around it is dry.”

She has lived near the river all her life and said it usually had a huge flow of water.

“But a couple of years ago it was like this and my grandfather and mother went down to the river and rescued all the fish that weren’t in the water.”

It was a devastating experience looking at the river, she said.

“I moved here when I was about two-and-a- half and I remember it being so beautiful, now there’s bugger all water there.”

Leah’s partner Dylan was also shocked by the state of the river.

“It’s pretty sad when you think about what it used to be like.”

He was also concerned the water would soon run out.

“It’s not even a drought that we’re having.

“It’s been a wet summer and if there was a proper drought where would the dairy farmers get their water from to irrigate their farms?”

He said further upstream, where there were sheep farms, the river level was a lot higher.

The water was also polluted, with cow faeces travelling along.

“Sometimes you go for a swim and there’s cow shit,” he said.

The pair said the river was always a popular destination during summer.

“People come here from Pleasant Point and even Temuka because it’s usually so nice,” Leah said.

Environment Canterbury South Canterbury councillor Mark Oldfield said the dynamic environment of rivers was changing all the time.

He was not aware of the river levels being lower than normal in the Opihi River.

“All farmers using water for irrigating all have consents and are tied to those consents.”

Recent flooding over the Christmas period may have moved shingle from up the river and this had possibly filled in the water hole Leah and Dylan were talking about, Cr Oldfield said.

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