Wairau/Awatere Resource Management Plan 6.3 Issue Competing and increasing demands for fresh water resources may lead to inequitable allocation. With the increases in demand there is potential for increased conflict between different users (eg. between small and large users, industrial and recreational users, and cultural and commercial users) and increased competition for the total resource available. With increased numbers of users there is also potential for abstraction to adversely affect other users. Adopting objectives and policies which seek to manage the competing and increasing demands for water in a fair and equitable manner will enable the Council to achieve the main purpose incorporated within the Marlborough Regional Policy Statement, which is to “integrate the management of natural and physical resources and provide for the fair and equitable treatment of different activities which may be competing for or affecting resources”. Consent volumes will be allocated on the basis of water allocation guidelines which have been determined for a number of activities by the Council and are listed in the table below: Crop Use Allocation Application Rate (mm/day Volume (m/ha/week) over irrigated area) 3 Crops/potatoes* 400 5.7 Food Crops (eg peas)* 400 5.7 Pasture 350 5.0 Pipfruit/ stonefruit (eg 375 5.4 apples) Field crops (eg wheat) * 350 5.0 Deep rooting tree crops (eg 200 2.9 olives) * Grapes** 155 2.2 Domestic 10 m/ house/day 3 - Rural residential allotment 10 m3/ site/day - * Guideline indicates water required 80% of the time, from 1974 to 1996, to keep the soil moisture store full, using recorded evaporation (factored to represent crop evapotranspiration), and recorded rainfall. The relationship between water requirements and crop yields for the Marlborough district has not been optimised. ** Guidelines indicate water required, from 1974 to 1996, to provide optimum crop yields for the Marlborough district (based on yield information from the region), using recorded crop evapotranspiration and assuming there is no rainfall. An irrigation application rate of 2.2 mm is equivalent to 12 litres per vine per day based on standard planting density. Water permit volumes granted will be clearly stated in the permit conditions and may also include the maximum rate at which water can be extracted. Water volumes will be expressed on permits in one or more of the ways shown in the table below. 6 - 6