20 | Waikato Regional Council: Environmental Projects REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Flood protection work fast tracked Sue Russell Waikato Regional Council is working on several flood protection infrastructure projects totalling over $23 million. Never a problem, always a solution For all your farm work, from drains/culverts, wintering pads & paddock contouring, to commercial construction and house sites. We aim to get the job done for you. With experience working for our local councils & Waikato Regional Council and sub contracting for larger companies. We are SHE registered and have complied with pre-qualification database through our local council. We are also on the Preferred Suplier Panel for WRC and other local authorities. Phone: 027 4726457 Pipiroa, Ngatea Email: johnjm@xtra.co.nz “All our flood protection assets are regularly checked and reviewed to make sure they are still in good working order and stack up to the pressures faced by those catchments…” Work is well underway by Waikato Regional Council on seven flood protection infrastructure projects totalling $23.6 million, thanks to a funding injection of $13.8 million from the Government’s regional economic development Unit, Shovel Ready programme manager Julie Beaufill says flood protection is a core responsibility of Waikato Regional Council, and the council manages multi-million dollar systems that protect communities and farms and vital services and infrastructure such as water supply, power, telecommunications, and road and rail networks. “All our flood protection assets are regularly checked and reviewed to make sure they are still in good working order and stack up to the pressures faced by those catchments, so that means factoring in things like projections of increased intensity of rainfall events and rising sea levels as a result of climate change,” says Julie. It is expected that ratepayers will spend about $2.8 billion over the next 50 years on the regular maintenance and renewal of flood protection infrastructure, with climate change taken into account. “As a result of the Government funding, we have a number of maintenance and renewal projects that we are able to fast track, and create jobs and improve environmental outcomes at the same time,” she says. The projects include: • upgrading stopbanks in Ngātea and along the Firth of Thames foreshore to design standard • replacing three floodgates that are near their end of life which are part of the Piako River scheme and replacing them with one to reduce maintenance, and creating wetland habitat for wading birds at the same time • upgrading the Mill Road and Roger Harris pumpstations that protect the Paeroa community with improved telemetry and health safety requirements • replacing up to five pumps near their end of life with fish-friendly pumps to enable safe passage of tuna (eels) • designing and building a vessel to be used on the Waikato and Waipā rivers as access for riverbank stabilisation and flood protection purposes. The combined projects are expected to create 132 different jobs over their lifetime, with contractors including Control Tech Limited, Brian Perry Civil, JJ Mangan Contracting Ltd, proliQS and WSP New Zealand Ltd. “The projects span over periods of 20 months to three years, with the first of these just about completed. One such project is the upgrade of the Mill Road and Roger Harris pump stations which are a critical part of the Waihou Valley flood protection scheme that protects Paeroa, Te Aroha, Turua, Kopu, Ngātea and Thames. “Thanks to our contractor, Brian Perry Civil, a new inlet bay, including screens and a standing platform means a digger can now clear away any debris caught in the floodwaters in a matter of minutes rather than operational staff doing it by hand for hours in the pouring rain – because it’s always pouring with rain during a flood event. “They also installed handrails and ladders, for health and safety purposes and new sheet piles to provide structural reinforcement in one of the sumps.” “The pump stations have also been given ‘brains’, a smartification programme, thanks to Control Tech. It means staff can now speed up, slow down, spin backwards and reset the pumps by phone rather than getting a text message about a fault and having to go to site, and we also have improved alerts about the water levels in the upper reaches of the catchment, so we know what’s coming.” As part of the Government’s COVID-19 economic recovery response, Waikato Regional Council also secured $5.5m for four environmental restoration projects totalling $6.57m (as part of the Jobs for Nature programme); $3.5m for three planting projects (from the One Billion Trees Fund, Te Uru Rākau); and $1.2m for wilding pine control projects in the Coromandel and Taupō areas (Ministry for Primary Industries).
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