There are currently four irrigation schemes under management by Aqus. Each scheme has individual requirements based on the age and configuration of its infrastructure. These are navigated and managed by our experienced team. Both Aqus, and the companies it manages, are owned by their shareholders and are cost-recovery businesses.
The Kurow Duntroon Irrigation Company (KDIC) has a siphon intake structure attached to the Waitaki Dam, on Lake Waitaki. The scheme was originally developed and operated by the Ministry of Works. The irrigation race system was purchased from the government in 1990 by the Upper Waitaki Community Irrigation Company (UWCIC). UWCIC subsequently changed its name to KDIC in 2013.
The scheme has undergone considerable investment in the past few years to replace open races with pipe and now services 4000 ha of irrigated land below the dam, on the south side of the river.
Kurow Duntroon Page
The Lower Waitaki Irrigation Company (LWIC) is responsible for irrigating over 25,000 ha on the Waitaki plains to the North-West of Oamaru. It has an intake via Borton’s Pond at Black Point on the south bank of the Waitaki River, which is shared with North Otago Irrigation Company.
Developed by the Ministry of Works in the 1970s, the scheme is a largely gravity-fed canal and race network. LWIC continues to invest money into upgrading infrastructure, including automated gate control systems and telemetered canal flow monitoring. The Company has also constructed a large buffer pond at Ferry Rd, in order to improve scheme efficiency and reliability that also operates as a water sports facility for the wider community. In recent years spray irrigation has replaced border dyke irrigation across much of the scheme.
Lower Waitaki Page
The Maerewhenua District Water Resource Company (MDWRC) is a small scheme delivering water to 15 shareholders around the Duntroon and Maerewhenua areas on the South Bank of the Waitaki River.
In early 2011, the scheme’s intake structure and headrace were completely destroyed during a period of sustained high river flows (around 1100 cumecs for three months).
Since then, the scheme has invested significantly – moving and rebuilding the intake structure and replacing part of the headrace with a piped reticulation system. These investments have also enabled the area under irrigation to be extended to 2000 ha, whilst also improving environmental flows in the Maerewhenua River.
Maerewhenua Page
North Otago Irrigation Company (NOIC) delivers pressurised water via a piped network to over 170 shareholders across the rolling North Otago downlands. The scheme was commissioned in 2006, and two extensions have since been completed to increase the irrigated area to 20,000 ha.
Water is diverted from the Waitaki River into Bortons Pond (shared with Lower Waitaki Irrigation Company). Canals deliver the water to two primary pump stations, each with four huge pumps that lift water to a head pond 145 m above the Waitaki valley floor. From the head pond, gravity pipelines take water into the Waiareka and Kakanui Valleys, with the scheme extending as far south as Herbert.
North Otago Irrigation Page
Disclaimer: This GIS mapping is illustrative and indicative only and you must independently verify its accuracy before taking any action in reliance upon it, i.e. the actual locations of any pipes must be physically verified on site by a qualified surveyor prior to any design, construction or other works taking place.