Land Owner Responsibilities
Land Owner Responsibility
- Water Races noted as ‘Privately Maintained’ are the responsibility of the adjacent landowner. This includes some races within the road reserve. Please contact us to find out which Water Races are privately maintained.
- Clean water races should be free flowing, and clear of silt, vegetation and other obstructions that prevent water from flowing.
- You are required to make sure that the race is clean, clear and not holding up flows to downstream properties, or causing effects such as flooding.
- Spraying of water race banks is not recommended as it can cause them to slump and collapse, please only spot spray pest plants with aquatic approved chemicals and avoid blanket spraying of banks which can damage the water race banks.
- Pest plants such as Gorse, Broome and Willow also need to be managed as well as hedges and plantings maintained so they don’t affect the flows in the race.
- Land owners failing to do their maintenance will be given clean notices, and if not complied with, council will do the work and on charge the costs back to the landowner.
Please email us at water.services@selwyn.govt.nz if you want advice on how to manage your water race.
Our responsibilities
- We are responsible for maintaining the main water races where required.
- Our contractors ensure there is supply across each scheme including river works at each intake, clearing grills and screens and setting flows across each scheme.
- We undertake spraying of vegetation emerging from some Council cleaned water races.
- Council approved proposed drainage and water race spraying programme 2022 / 2023
If unsure, please contact us to find out whether your water race is cleaned by our contractor or to get further advice on maintaining your water race.