The severe weather events in early 2023 affected many communities in the Wairau Valley area and resulted in two fatalities. As a result, we are working to reduce flood risks and prepare for future flooding.
We want to improve Wairau Valley's flood
resilience by:
- increasing how much
stormwater that uninhabited green space can hold during flooding
- creating more stormwater storage and wetland spaces.
This project is part of our
Making Space for Water programme and is co-funded by central government. It will add to our other flood management initiatives to keep Auckland safe.
About the project
We will create a network of flood management systems that protect homes, businesses, and infrastructure. The systems:
- are designed to work together
- will get better at reducing flood risk with each part we build.
These systems together will form a
blue-green network.
The complete blue-green network will:
- make the stormwater network more resilient and easier to maintain
- significantly reduce flooding risk to 10 hectares of residential properties (about 200 homes)
- help maintain access to:
- important roads including Nile Road, Waterloo Road and Alma Road
- important community facilities including schools, retirement villages, North Shore Hospital and other medical facilities
- restore natural waterways and increase biodiversity while protecting homes, businesses and recreational areas.
We will build the first two stages of the project over the next 10 years. Developing a large project like this requires:
- careful planning
- construction that happens in stages
- ongoing collaboration with the community.
Area overview
Our proposed improvements to the Wairau Valley
catchment.
Stage 1: A F Thomas Park upgrades
We will upgrade
A F Thomas Park by:
- increasing how much stormwater the park can hold from 60,000 cubic metres to 550,000 cubic metres
- creating
wetland that slowly releases stormwater without overwhelming Wairau Creek.
These upgrades are essential. They will support and improve the effectiveness of the flood management systems proposed in Stage 2.
We will maintain A F Thomas Park as a flexible green space for recreation that can also provide flood relief.
Stage 2: Future works
The proposed work across the wider Wairau Valley catchment includes:
- increasing the capacity of up to four stormwater detention ponds, including at Rewi Alley Reserve, Trias Reserve and Tōtaravale Reserve
- widening streams to restore their natural flow, including Wairau Creek
- upgrading stormwater infrastructure along Wairau Road to improve water flow.
Community engagement
We are working closely with the Wairau Valley community to gather feedback on the project's early concept designs. This feedback will guide the project's design.
Read our presentation to the Wairau Valley community.
