With increasing pressure on water resources, vineyard owners need to be looking at more secure water sources in the region. Dam building and reservoirs have seen an increase over the past few years in small to medium sized vineyards, as well as large scale operations, minimising the risk of crop loss while maintaining crucial water supplies.
This article from The Marlborough Express mentions:
Having a dam is the new norm for wine companies and grapegrowers as they seek to protect themselves from future water restrictions, a dam builder says.
It used to be uncommon for small to medium-sized vineyards in Marlborough to need a dam, but two years of drought and soaring global temperatures had hammered home the need for a reliable water source.
In 2015, the Marlborough District Council issued eight resource consents for dams, with a total volume of more than 411m litres.
This was up from three consents the year before and one in 2013.
Resource management officer Glen Park said dams that were below a certain size and volume did not require resource consent, so he thought more would have been built.
The council encouraged the storage of water and Park said he imagined there would be more consent applications in the future.
“There’s quite a few dams out there already, but there’s still quite a few areas that run the risk of not having enough water.”
– The Marlborough Express
To read the full story, click here.
Working closely with dam construction companies, water engineers and civil engineers, Remac Consulting has experience with all resource management matters relating to water storage for irrigation.
Please give us a call or email if you would like an assessment of the resource management requirements for your water storage project.
