The health and economics of the Manuherikia seem likely to return to centre stage with Otago Regional Council expecting to be briefed next month by an advisory board formed to give feedback on flows and water quality. 

Otago Regional Council will be briefed in late August by the Technical Advisory Group, said the council’s policy and science general manager Anita Dawe.

“The group has continued to work during the last year and has met several times in 2023 to continue to progress work,” Anita said.

A councillor briefing would be scheduled for late August, ahead of consultation with the Manuherikia on flows and water quality provisions likely to be included in the Land and Water Regional Plan when it is notified in June next year. 

That consultation would be in the latter half of 2023.

Anita said hydrology and ecology reports would be completed by then and the group would provide feedback to the council on those reports; and council staff would make recommendations on flows that would inform policy recommendations.