story header

Our Story

North Otago Irrigation Company Ltd (NOIC) is a community irrigation scheme, established to provide irrigation and stock water to farms in the North Otago Downlands area. The Company is owned by its farmer-shareholders and, while being a limited liability company, operates as a co-operative. It operates an extensive and complex network designed to deliver water to farms, at pressure, with high reliability. Our goal is to enable our farmers to be the best they can be.

Our mission:

To deliver cost-effective, reliable water supported with environmental leadership - enabling positive social and economic outcomes.

Innovation

For many years local farmers dreamed of getting reliable water from the nearby Waitaki River into the drought-prone North Otago downlands, but the local topography made this an extremely challenging prospect. Thanks to a small group of tireless individuals and the commitment of the community, this dream finally became a reality when the NOIC scheme opened in 2006.

Farmer-shareholders have invested significant capital in the construction of a state-of-the-art pressurised piped system that is capable of irrigating approximately 26,000 hectares of productive farmland. The scheme has been designed to deliver water to the farm gate at a rate of 0.4 litres per second per share, which is equivalent to 3.5 mm per hectare per day. Water is delivered to the farm boundary on demand and at approximately 5 bar pressure, meaning most farms do not require any further pumping. From an irrigating farmers perspective, it really doesn’t get much easier – just flick the switch…no ordering, no rostering, no pumping.

IMG 5647 Resized

Reliability

The Waitaki River is the fourth largest river by flow in the country. It has been used to generate electricity since the 1930s and currently provides around 20-25 percent of New Zealand’s electricity. The hydro-generation schemes are required to maintain a minimum flow in the lower river, providing some of the most reliable and consistent flows for irrigation in the country. The Waitaki Catchment Water Allocation Plan provides for the allocation of water from the river to ensure that communities, irrigators and generators are able to access this resource, while protecting the important environmental and cultural characteristics of the river. Alongside NOIC’s modern infrastructure and strong focus on asset management, this ensures reliability is one of our key points of difference.

Our history

Construction of the head pond

Key milestones

  • 1990

    The company was incorporated to investigate and deliver bringing large-scale irrigation to the North Otago downlands area. From the beginning, farmer-director leadership and energy was instrumental in developing detailed engineering and feasibility studies into various options, and for promoting the scheme and gaining community acceptance.

  • 2003

    Resource consents were issued allowing the company to take water from the Waitaki River and distribute it to the downlands area.

  • 2004

    Staged development began with Stage One to irrigate up to 10,000 hectares with up to 4 cumecs of water. $18.5 million equity was raised enabling the $57.9 million capital project to be launched. Farmer shareholders entered into a Water Supply Agreement covering the supply of water and environmental management requirements, secured by a Memorandum of Encumbrance over no less than one hectare per share.

  • 2006

    Stage One was publicly opened, bringing pressurised water to subscribed farmers for the first time

  • 2009

    The Paradise Gully extension reached practical completion.

  • 2010

    North Otago Irrigation became a founding member of the Waitaki Irrigators Collective.

  • 2011

    The Duntroon Extension reached practical completion.

  • 2012

    The Company was the recipient of the Irrigation New Zealand Innovation Award for their comprehensive Audited Environmental Self-Management System.

  • 2013

    The Tilverstowe Extension reached practical completion.

  • 2014

    The Five Forks extension reached practical completion. A second prospectus was launched following sufficient expressions of interest from farmers interested in investing in the significant Stage Two expansion project that would deliver the remaining 4 cumecs of consented water.

  • 2015

    Stage Two milestones achieved included strengthened relationships with Iwi and the granting of a new resource consent. Construction began with site mobilisation at the company’s two main pump stations.

  • 2016

    The Stage Two expansion project was progressively built, adding approximately 114km of pipeline with up to ten crews working at once

  • 2017

    Stage Two reached practical completion.

  • 2019

    Primary pump testing confirmed the ability to deliver the full design capacity of 8 cumecs of consented water.

  • 2020

    The company delivered record daily volumes of irrigation water to farmers.

story section 4

The Future

The company has no plans to further expand the scheme. However, it does still have 1,700 shares available that it expects will be taken up over the next 24 months. With those shares sold, the scheme infrastructure will be fully utilised and the dream that originated with those visionaries in the 1990’s will be fulfilled.

Being a shareholder
story section 5

Community

NOIC plays a vital role in the local district. Irrigation creates a higher level of certainty in farming, giving farmers confidence to invest. This, in turn, drives positive economic and social outcomes throughout both rural and urban communities.

Economic modelling shows that irrigation across the Waitaki district creates an additional $74 million in farm-gate value annually. Beyond these direct economic benefits, a number of positive social changes have arisen as a result of irrigation, including population growth, younger and more educated demographics, and a significant improvement in median household income. These benefits trickle through the local community, supporting many businesses, charities and sports clubs.

NOIC also contributes to the community by funding environmental groups and projects, and through the provision of a tertiary scholarship for local students. Rural fire hydrants are located throughout NOIC's infrastructure network. These hydrants are used by the Waitaki Rural Fire Authority and are immensely helpful for rural fire-fighting in an area where it is often a struggle to source enough water to effectively fight a fire.

The Waitaki District Council has long recognised the benefits of irrigation in the district and have provided financial support to NOIC as a funding partner. This demonstration of confidence in NOIC and the company’s role in the community has been greatly appreciated by the company.

 

Learn about Scholarships