How do we Water use in the region is allocated under the Council-managed system of manage this risk? water consents. Consent holders have been informed that because of the long term statistics for rainfall and river flows that Class A consent holders are likely to be shut off 1 week in every 5 years and that Class B consent holders should have 30 to 60 days of water storage. Council issued resource consents for 1 dam in 2013, 3 dams in 2014 and 8 consents for dams (totalling 411 million litres of storage capacity) in 2015. The District also has a significant irrigation scheme known as the Southern Valleys Irrigation Scheme which draws water from the Wairau River and allows 4,500 has (mostly vineyards) to irrigate the equivalent of 1.8mm of rainfall per day. During extreme droughts this scheme may be shut down if the river levels drop below a pre-determined level. Council is also progressing work on the proposed Flaxbourne Community Irrigation Scheme which has been a work in progress since 2008. It will draw water from the Awatere River and providing irrigation for 2,200 ha. Water restrictions are often put in place for townships particularly in Renwick. Residents are kept informed and respond well to messages to save water. What more • Supporting those on the land who are struggling with the pressures associated with should we be drought. doing? What is the future • The results of climate change can be summarised as the wet areas get risk? wetter and the dry areas get drier. • Climate change will therefore have serious consequences for Marlborough in that future rainfall is expected to fall. Liquefaction Overview Liquefaction will occur when submerged loose to medium dense granular materials and silt are subjected to ground shaking. Soil deformation induced by liquefaction can cause sand boils, subsidence, lateral spreading and flow slides. Damage from such deformation can include floatation of buried structures, fissuring of the ground, subsidence of large areas, differential subsidence and foundation failure caused by loss of support as the liquefied soil loses its shear strength. Damage from liquefaction would be greatest where there is potential for lateral spreading of the ground towards water courses or other free surface. Hazard Likelihood A geo-technical report on land to the east of Blenheim that was earmarked for possible (A) future residential expansion has shown that it would be susceptible to liquefaction in the event of a significant earthquake. Hazard Social: Consequence (3) • Homes and properties become uninhabitable causing significant disruption to people’s lives. Economic: • Land that is affected becomes worthless as do all the assets that are on the land. • Businesses and residents are forced to move to another location. Marlborough Civil Defence Emergency Management Plan, 2017-2022 Page 101