Three concrete floodwalls on the Rangitāiki River have been replaced to ensure they continue to help protect the community from flooding in the coming decades.
This project was prompted by the discovery of seepage (the slow escape of water through spongy earth) at three floodwall sites along the Rangitāiki River (Greig Road, Thornton School and College Road) and is part of Regional Council’s ongoing work to upgrade flood defences around the rohe.
This project involved removing existing floodwalls along those three areas and building new, upgraded flood defences.
The new defences were built by inserting sheet piles (big sections of sheet steel with interlocking edges) into the ground and covering them with an earth stopbank or concrete floodwall. This design will provide more effective seepage control below ground.
Now complete, these new flood defences form part of a network of protection along the Rangitāiki River.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council received funding from Central Government’s Crown Infrastructure Funding, which covered $3.35M of the $5M project.
