The Otago Regional Council (ORC) will decide on Wednesday whether to accept an extension to its Regional Land and Water Plan, or carry on doing things its own way.

New Environment Minister Penny Simmonds wrote to the ORC on Friday pushing out the plan’s deadline to 2027, to give councils time to align with the new national policy statement on freshwater management.

Some regional councillors were expecting a directive to stop the work.

At last month’s ORC meeting, councillors voted not to delay the regional water plan any longer and agreed to stick with the original June 30, 2024 deadline. 

But, Central Otago regional councillors Michael Laws and Gary Kelliher have been opposed from the start, and accused the council of playing a game of chicken with the new coalition government.

The council has been asked to provide an outline of costs, benefits and implications of notifying the plan if it still wanted to proceed, by May 1.

The letter from Simmonds will be discussed at Wednesday’s meeting as part of the council’s ongoing work programme for the regional land and water plan.

Many orchardists, viticulturists and farmers in the Manuherekia catchment have been nervous about the proposed water plan, effectively increasing the flow of the river threefold by 2040.

Organic apple grower Murray Bell said if the plan had already been in place this season, they would’ve been on water shortages since early December, and the small amount of rain so far this year meant the horticulture industry only just scraped through.

Falls Dam has made national headlines in recent weeks when it fell to 0% capacity - forcing 75% restrictions on irrigation users.