Golden Bay floods highlight river management flaws

In late December, while parts of New Zealand basked in sunshine, the top of the South Island and Golden Bay in particular was hit by the worst flooding in 169 years. In the wake of the Aorere River floods, Federated Farmers is looking at measures to counter the devastating social and economic effects of floods.

“Such was the rainfall on December 28, that the Aorere River could have filled 1.4 Olympic sized swimming pools every second,” says Graham Ball, Federated Farmers Golden Bay provincial president.

“That’s why on Monday we were honoured to host the Hon David Carter MP, Minister of Agriculture, for him to see the aftermath and to discuss some policy solutions we highlighted in a report we prepared for him.

“The Aorere River went from its normal summer flow of nine cubic metres per second (cumecs) to 3,560 on December 28. This saw extensive damage to homes and farms that people are still dealing with that. One family was forced into a kayak to get off their farm.

“It was great to hear the Minister acknowledge the effort put in by Federated Farmers, Rural Women New Zealand, local businesses, Council and volunteers from afar away as Nelson.

“Solutions were what Federated Farmers discussed with the Minister. While infrastructure repairs need to be prioritised, so do the rules surrounding gravel extraction. What hit Golden Bay could easily hit any river in New Zealand but with the risk of a more catastrophic outcome.

“The Aorere River, the largest in Tasman District, has high gravel movement which leads to gravel build-up. Yet the Tasman District Council severely limits the amount of gravel that is allowed to be removed from the river which makes it almost impossible to manage any flood flows.

“Federated Farmers prophetically submitted on the Council’s review of its Beds of Rivers and Lakes Policy. We called for river management regulations to relate closely to individual river characteristics.

“We cannot deal with the continuing build up of trees, rocks and gravel either on the coast or along the length of the river. Unless river management is enabled for the Aorere, we risk further flooding with next high rainfall event.

“It’s why we say that in the case of flood management and gravel extraction the intent of 2009’s simplifying and streamlining of the RMA needs to be realised.

“Having just witnessed the devastating effect of these floods, I think it is a real wake up call for councils and central government to ensure that we can pre-empt these events and proactively work to reduce the risk of damage right across the country,” Mr Ball concluded.

For a copy of the 2010-11 Aorere Flood report, please click here.