Catchment liaison committees

Environment Southland has established eight catchment liaison committees comprised of representatives evenly spread throughout each river catchment and elected annually by their communities.

Their role is to advise and assist Environment Southland in the development of annual maintenance works programmes and budgets, and provide an important local contact for each river community regarding special river and land drainage management issues.

Originally established in 1979 in conjunction with Federated Farmers, the committees in 2020 finalised a review of their terms of reference (below) which has expanded the scope of advice they can present to Environment Southland. Advice includes emerging issues including biodiversity, cultural values, water quality and quantity, ecological health and soil health to complement river works, flood and river erosion control services.

Terms of Reference (PDF, 875KB)

Map of catchment liaison committee areas

Use this map to find out which liaison committee looks after your catchment area.