Irrigation restrictions: how exactly do they work?
Unless you\’re in the farming sector, it can seem odd that one farm\’s irrigation system is working at full tilt while the next valley over is dry as a chip. So, here\’s a brief primer: individual farms, or groups of farms and/or irrigation companies that share a catchment area, have a resource consent to take a maximum amount of water to irrigate their particular catchment. Irrigation companies distribute this to shareholders based on the number of \’wet\’ shares farmers own. Because rivers/catchments each receive different amounts of rain (or snow melt) throughout the year, irrigation restrictions vary over time and from river/catchment to river. These restrictions vary daily and are available to the public here: