Environment BOP has lodged resource consent applications for the operation of the Ohau Channel Weir and the Okere Gates – structures which reduce risk of flooding and droughts in Lake Rotorua and Lake Rotoiti.

File Picture.

There are four consents for the structures' placement and use, due to expire on June 30, 2010, for Lake Rotorua's Ohau Channel Weir structure and Lake Rotoiti's Okere Gates.
The lodgement allows the regional council to continue operating the structures on its existing consents, currently held by the Rivers and Drainage Group of Environment BOP, while the application for a new consent is processed.
Rivers and Drainage Group manager for Environment BOP Ken Tarboton says the lodgement was the first step in the process of obtaining consent to continue operating the structures.
'We won't be seeking to notify the application until we've carried out more consultation and investigation to address stakeholder and community concerns regarding the future lake control operations.”
He says notification is expected to occur mid-2010 and a consultation programme would be released early 2010.
Nothing in the application would be set in concrete until the public notification occurred, says Ken.