About the committee
The Hurunui-Waiau Zone Committee was established in early 2010 as part of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy.
The strategy established 10 water zone committees in Canterbury – each with a local committee – with the Regional Committee working alongside zone committees and communities for positive outcomes.
The Hurunui-Waiau Zone Committee operates as a joint committee of Hurunui District Council and Environment Canterbury.
Zone committee members are appointed for a three year term, after which a new committee will be formed. Applicants were assessed on skills, expertise, and experience as well as their ability to work together to develop water management solutions that deliver economic, social, cultural and environmental issues.
Terms of Reference
Terms of Reference (145kB)
Committee membership
Community members:
Environment Canterbury appointment:
Hurunui District Council appointment:
Runanga representatives:
Committee member biographies
David Eder (Omihi)
David has been involved with water usage and irrigation for 50 years and believes natural resources must be fairly allocated so the whole community benefits and all water users are catered for in a fair and equitable manner.
David has been involved with a number of boards and community groups where consensus and collaboration were required to solve issues. He believes water issues can be resolved providing a win-win for all parties.
David has strong horticultural interests including a blackcurrant farm at Omihi. He is also is a director of Horticulture NZ and involved in a range of export ventures including a company producing “best in the world” blackcurrant products.
John Faulkner (Culverden)
John describes himself as a dairy farmer, businessman, and sportsman, as well as being environmentally, culturally and socially aware and also aware of the community’s obligation to future generations.
John, together with his wife Robyn, owns and run a 162 hectare dairy farm north of Culverden which receives water from the Amuri Irrigation Scheme.
The farm won the LIC Dairy Farm award in the 2009 Ballance Farm Awards and is one of the top performing dairy properties in the Amuri Basin. John’s farm business has also been recognised with a number of business performance awards. He is the interim chair of the Amuri Dairy Employers group whose aims include improving on-farm employment practices and promoting the area as a good place to work and live. John is also a Victim Support volunteer. His personal achievements include winning the second Paris to Dakar 7200km endurance cycle race in 2007.
Professor Ken Hughey
Ken has an ongoing interest in the sustainable management of Canterbury’s water resources. His local activities include fishing, kayaking and birdlife research on the Hurunui and Waiau rivers and he has family ties in the area.
Ken is Professor of Environmental Management at Lincoln University and has a PhD in resource management. His research speciality is the ecology and management of rivers and lowland wetland ecosystems, and his teaching includes a course on Integrated Environmental Management based on collaborative approaches.
He also leads a large multi-year research programme on prioritising river values, in- and out-of-stream. Ken was part of the multi-stakeholder group evaluating storage options in Stage 3 of the Canterbury Strategic Water Study and been involved in working groups to establish targets for the CWMS.
Andrew Harris (Parnassus)
Andrew has lived and farmed in the Leader Valley, near Parnassus, for the past 22 years. The farm adjoins the Leader River and he has overseen the enhancement of the river ecosystem – including weed and pest control measures – through consultation with stakeholders and local authorities.
He is also a keen fisherman and jet boater on both the Waiau and Hurunui rivers and believes the rivers should be enhanced and maintained for future generations and for the benefit of all stakeholders.
Andrew has a B. Com (Ag) from Lincoln University and an MBA from Canterbury University and is a member of the Cheviot Ward Committee of Hurunui District Council as well as a director of a number of private companies.
Mike Hodgen (Hawarden)
Mike has lived and farmed in North Canterbury for most of his life and wants to ensure the future well-being and prosperity of people in the Hurunui district.
Mike was part of the multi-stakeholder group evaluating storage options in Stages 2 and 3 of the Canterbury Water Management. He also chairs the Hurunui Irrigation Project, spent three years on the Hurunui Ward Committee and 10 years on the North Canterbury Federated Farmers’ provincial executive.
Mike’s family started farming in the area in 1924 and he began working on the family farm in 1968. Mike and Jan bought the farm in 1975 and they farm in partnership with son Dan and daughter Nicky and their families. The farm includes a QEII conservation covenant and Mike and Jan are life members of the QE II Trust.
Dr Michele Hawke (Hawarden)
Michele is a businesswoman from Hawarden where she and her husband run Hawarden Garage and Transport. As a school bus driver she has the opportunity to be involved with the local community and in particular get to know the young people.
Michele has a doctorate in geology and has worked in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea as an exploration geologist. Michele is currently Chairperson of the Christchurch School of Gymnastics.
Tony Hawker
Tony has an ongoing interest in the Canterbury Water Management Strategy and believes it is the best option for water management. He also has a particular interest in the Hurunui-Waiau area which includes work projects and recreational activities such as fly-fishing, as well as living in the area between 2001 and 2003.
Tony wants to be part of a solution that delivers irrigation needs while maintaining sustainable environmental standards, and is very keen to be involved in ecological restoration projects. His family has a farming background and he was raised in a small rural community on a farm his family had run for many generations.
Tony is employed as an environmental officer for Fish and Game.
Makarini Rupene
Makarini Rupene lives in Kaiapoi with his four children. His whanau is one of the oldest of the original families from Kaiapoi Pa who then settled in Tuahiwi following the Treaty of Waitangi.
Maka is a Tangata Tiaki (customary fisheries guardian), appointed by Ministry of Fisheries and Ngai Tuahuriri, and has carried out a number of cultural health surveys of rivers and other waterways of Canterbury, including Te Hurunui. He is a printer by trade, has studied at the University of Canterbury (Maori Sciences) and holds a Diploma in Indigenous Studies from Te Wananga o Aotearoa.
Hunting and gathering is a big part of Maka’s life, and mahinga kai resources continue to sustain his household and maintain traditional relationships and customs (e.g. manaakitanga, kai-hau-kai). Maka still takes his children camping and fishing on the Waipara River, as he did as a kid and as his elders did before that. Maka remembers going fishing with his father as a toddler and having to wear shoes because of all the rubbish dumped in the river. He wants all rivers in the zone to be safe for his children to go swimming and for them to carry on the traditions and customs passed on to him by his whanau.
Winton Dalley
Winton has run a successful farming operation in the dry hills of North Canterbury for more than three decades.
He is a two-term district councillor and chair of the Hurunui District Council Works and Services Committee.
He and his wife Jean were among the first to import the South African meat merino rams to New Zealand because they were better able to handle the harsh conditions of dry land.
He was also instrumental in developing the Hurunui Water Management Strategy and firmly believes water is critical to the future prosperity of the District.
David Bedford
David Bedford moved to Canterbury in 2005 following a corporate career in Australia and New Zealand.
He now owns a small vineyard in North Canterbury which he manages with his wife and son. David is also an Environment Canterbury Commissioner and the Chair of Enterprise North Canterbury.
David has extensive experience in senior management, including human resources and change management.
His most recent corporate role was as Chief Operating Officer for AAPT, Telecom's business in Australia, between 2000 and 2003. He started working for Telecom in 1992 and his other roles included: Head of Human Resources (1993 to 1997); Group General Manager Enterprises responsible for Telecom Directories, Xtra and other non core business units (1997 to 1998); and Group General Manager Network (1998 to 2000).
From 1987 to 1992 David was Corporate Industrial Relations Manager and then the head of Human Resources at the Electricity Corporation of NZ. Prior to that he held a number of industrial relations roles in the construction and meat industries in NZ and Australia.