Motueka River flood control options presented to Council

February 14th, 2011
[Tasman District Council press release]

Tasman District Council's Engineering Services Committee has been presented with five options for Motueka's future flood control.

Once approved by the committee, the five options would form the basis of ongoing public consultation begun last year in Motueka. The consultation program is the result of the identified need to reconstruct the current stopbanks to provide better flood protection, particularly to the lower Motueka Valley. Though the stopbanks have prevented major flooding in the past, they do not meet accepted modern standards.

Having considered the engineering needs, the Council has concluded that there was a need to determine the best practicable and affordable flood control option. In doing so, the Council has agreed that public consultation is essential before any solution and process is identified.

In agreeing to the consultation, the community has stressed that any decision would have to balance an acceptable level of risk with the community's willingness and ability to pay for the identified level of protection associated with that risk.

The five options below will be taken to the affected communities over the next few months:

Rebuild the right and left stopbanks.
Refurbish the right and left stopbanks.
Allow a spillway over the right bank, and provide secondary banks set back to create a channel for overland flow and take the pressure off the existing stopbanks. This option was split into two at the workshops to represent the spillway located either at Woodman's Bend or opposite Fry's Island.
Allow a spillway over the left bank and provide secondary banks setback to create a flow path to the west of Riwaka. Do minimum refurbishment of the existing stopbanks.
Secondary stopbanks on both sides of the river and create secondary flow paths. Do the minimum refurbishment work on the original stopbanks and create levels to meet accepted design standards.

A consultation programme will be released very shortly by the Council with the results of the consultation being reported back to Councillors before any decision is made, prior to the review and consideration of the Long Term Plan early next year.

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