Government commits $5 million for flood protection work in Whakatane District

The Government will contribute $5 million to reduce flood risk in the Whakatane District.

Civil Defence Minister John Carter said that Cabinet has agreed to provide $3.367 million to the regional council, Environment Bay of Plenty, and $1.644 million to Whakatane District Council.

Mr Carter said the councils had jointly requested Government assistance to reduce the impacts of possible future flooding of the Rangitaiki River, particularly in the urban Edgecumbe area, and also in Awatapu.

“The work will greatly reduce the likelihood of flooding, and if a flood did occur, it will make it less severe,” Mr Carter said.

“The councils worked with their communities, scientists, engineers and each other to find possible solutions. They chose what they saw as the best options and brought those to Government.

“After robust assessment, Cabinet has agreed to provide $5 million of funding to mitigate the flood risk hazard.”

The works that Environment Bay of Plenty has proposed for the Rangitaiki River are:

 

• widening parts of Reids Floodway to increase its capacity
• adding a control gate to Reids Floodway to allow better management of floodwaters between the floodway and the main river channel

The works that Whakatane District Council has proposed for Edgecumbe include:

 

• stop-bank works around all four quadrants of the town
• building a flood pump station to control local flooding
• building a new deflector bank and raising the existing Raids Floodway bank
• establishing a new location where flood waters can be pumped during an emergency.

The Government’s contribution is also toward work already completed by the Whakatane District Council at Awatapu, which included:

 

• upgrading the Awatapu pumping station
• installing a second pump station and associated infrastructure at the lagoon.