rural issues

In this section: General, Water, Fire and Other

General

MAFNet
http://www.maf.govt.nz/

The premier source of information related to the farming sector. Use the Site A-Z to locate specific information as a large volume of information is available.

Rural New Zealand
http://www.maf.govt.nz/mafnet/rural-nz/
MAFs information on what’s happening in rural New Zealand.

Water

River and rainfall information
http://www.orc.govt.nz/waterinfo/

Information provided by the Otago Regional Council for Kawarau, Upper Clutha, Lower Clutha, North Otago, Taieri and Dunedin.

The Regional Plan: Water
http://www.orc.govt.nz/html/details.html?ArticleID=68

A framework for the future management of water in Otago. The Plan, User Guide to the plan, and the Regional Plan: Water pamphlet are available as pdf files. Covers the use, development and protection of Otago’s freshwater resources and provides objectives, policies, rules and other methods of implementation to address these issues. The rules of the Plan determine the status of any particular activity and determine whether a resource consent will be required before that activity can be carried out.

If you are on a slow modem, you might want to consider ordering the Plan on CD for just $10. Address on the web site.

Environment Canterbury
http://www.ecan.govt.nz/home/

Find out about the State of our Water: Water resources throughout Canterbury are currently under stress due to lack of rain, irrigation restrictions, groundwater allocation, the new Water Take Trial, river Flows and Highest Rainfall Today - and much more.

Fire

National Rural Fire Authority (NRFA)
http://nrfa.fire.org.nz/

A very comprehensive site with everything from Fire Danger Today (Maps and Data), Fire Season Status (do you need a fire permit in your area?) and Fire Weather Monitoring to 'Bernie's tips for a safe and fire-free summer' wallpaper to download directly to your computer. Also list of all Rural Fire Districts.

Other

Injury Prevention
http://www.acc.co.nz/injury-prevention/

The ACC website has information about many health and safety issues relevant to the rural sector. for example the ACC WorkSafe Cycle which gives provides a step-by-step guide on how to set up and support systems and procedures required for effective workplace health and safety; and rural safety such as the Children and farm safety pages with Games for Kids that can be downloaded.