| 9 Irrigation » Central Plains Water Near River Recharge Infrastructure. being at the core of its operations from the start. This was borne out by all CPW farms having a Farm Environment Plan (FEP) so shareholders could assess and appropriately manage their environmental risk. “In our 2022 audit, 99% of our farms received an A or B Grade in their FEP audit. “In the past six years CPW has contributed over $1.4m to a wide range of projects designed to enhance biodiversity in our catchment.” Susan says that these projects included wetland protection and research, native tree planting – more than 70,000 so far – and efforts to enhance Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere’s biodiversity. “As part of our resource consent, CPW was required to undertake water quality and quantity testing long before construction work started. “The beauty of this is that we now have some excellent benchmark statistics to enable effective tracking of our sustainability progress,” Susan says. The most recent reporting showed gains in several key areas, including a 50% - 43 million cubic metres – reduction in groundwater abstraction by shareholders, and a reduction of 22% in nitrogen lost to ground water. “These are all positive trends, and ones that we will continue to place focus on as we move through our planning process,” she says. “Sustainability is also about building community well-being in our areas of operation, and a recent BERL report we commissioned clearly shows the impact we continue to have in that space. “We supply 263 farms with water to irrigate 45,000ha from run-of-river water, and water from Lake Coleridge. “We know our operations have a profound effect on the wider Canterbury economy, with flow-on effects rippling throughout the region’s industries, businesses and employees. “Our operations contributed a total of $293m to Canterbury’s gross domestic product, and direct employment of 893 workers,” Susan Goodfellow said. Irrigation | Water storage | Hydro | Dams Auckland | Christchurch | riley.co.nz | Specialist engineering solutions Riley_Business Rural Magazine_ad_126.5x180mm.indd 1 9/03/23 7:16 PM
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