River managers from regional and unitary councils around New Zealand gathered in Dunedin 9 and 10 March for workshop meetings to share our insights and reassess our strategies following Cyclone Gabrielle, to better equip Aotearoa against future climate change consequences affecting our rivers.
The Otago Regional Council hosted event included speakers from Kānoa - Regional Economic Development & Investment Unit, Te Uru Kahika and LGNZ provided key updates from their respective areas, then progress updates from river managers about co-funded Kānoa Climate Resilience Flood Protection Programme projects were shared and discussed. Kānoa Climate Resilience Advisory Board Chair, Basil Chamberlain highlighted the achievements to date and appreciation of the vital support from Kānoa staff.
Some of the highlights discussed included work done on the Awanui River that lifted the flood protection to Kaitaia and saved the town from flooding during a 1-in-100 year rainfall event last August, a major upgrade of the stopbanks on the left bank of the Waipaoa River that protected Gisborne city and adjoining high-value intensive horticulture land from Cyclone Gabrielle flooding.
In the Hawke’s Bay, work on upgrades to cope with larger storm events, such as the Heretaunga Plains scheme has started to lift protection from 1-in-100 year flood levels to 1-in-500 year levels. Part of this project is the Taradale stopbank upgrade which was completed late last year and was instrumental in protecting much of Napier from catastrophic flooding from Cyclone Gabrielle, highlighting how vital these upgrades are. River managers discussed the new fish passage pumps (see Fish-friendly Pumps article in this newsletter for details) and flood protection gates installed in the Waikato, Mataura stopbank upgrade work, berm restoration and social procurement developments in Canterbury and Otago, and a new Otiria spillway and bridge development arising from iwi hapu community consultation in Northland.
There was a field visit to the Otago Regional Council Water of Leith flood protection upgrade project, this project provides protection to the Dunedin CBD area including Otago University and the new hospital under construction. This quarterly event is an important meeting of river engineers and managers to learn from each other and work together to ensure shared learnings and best outcomes for river management are achieved for Aotearoa.
