Project start year: 2025
The Whakatāne River Scheme covers a catchment of around 1,100 square kilometres and protects urban areas from flooding.
This project focuses on strengthening key parts of the existing flood protection network to maintain reliable levels of service.
Works include stopbank upgrades, culvert replacements, and improved seepage control at priority locations such as the Trident Stopbank, Awatapu Lagoon and the Whakatāne canals.
Benefits
Targeted upgrades address vulnerable sections of the scheme, ensuring stopbanks continue to perform as intended. Removing inappropriate vegetation and structures allows for effective repairs and strengthening.
These improvements support continued protection of the Whakatāne community from a 1% AEP (annual exceedance probability) flood event, meaning there is a 1-in-100 chance of this happening in any given year.
Adaptation
Ongoing investment in flood protection infrastructure helps communities respond to increasingly frequent and severe weather events.
This work supports a wider, all-of-government approach to maintaining resilient infrastructure networks, including transport and stormwater systems.
Collaboration
The project is co-funded through the Regional Investment Fund (RIF) alongside Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
This partnership approach enables essential resilience work to be delivered at pace, helping protect communities within the Whakatāne River Scheme.
These improvements will help ensure Whakatāne remains well protected now and into the future as conditions continue to change.