Flood protection - asset management
Protecting people and land from floods
Waikato Regional Council is responsible for flood protection under the Soil Conservation and Flood Protection Act 1941 and the Public Works Act 1981. We manage multi-million dollar systems that protect communities, schools, roads, farms and other vital resource, keeping land draining freely in specific geographic areas where schemes have been agreed with communities.
Our flood protection assets and systems include stopbanks, floodgates, pump stations, spillways and channels, all linked and managed by computer monitoring of river levels and flows.
There are over 90 individual land drainage schemes, each locally funded through targeted rating.
Did you know?
The flood protection systems managed by Waikato Regional Council:
- have a replacement value of $484 million
- realise and protect community infrastructure that generates over $2.2 billion of economic activity annually
- protect over 300,000 ha of land.
Stopbanks
Without stopbanks, large areas of our region, including the north Waikato and Hauraki Plains, would be under water for months at a time.
Most of the Waikato Regional Council’s 620 km of stopbanks are in the Waihou-Piako and Lower Waikato zones. These two zone schemes were developed in the 1960s and many stopbanks are now more than 50 years old.
In the 2012-2022 Long Term Plan (LTP), council budgeted $22 million over 10 years for maintenance works on stopbanks in these two zones on a priority basis.
| Lower Waikato zone | Waihou-Piako zone |
| Full booklet | |
| Map 1 | Waihou map 1 |
| Map 2 | Waihou map 2 |
| Map 3 | Waihou map 3 |
| Map 4 | Waihou map 4 |
| Map 5 | Waihou map 5 |
| Map 6 | Waihou map 6 |
| Map 7 | Piako map 1 |
| Map 8 | Piako map 2 |
| Map 9 | Piako map 3 |
| Map 10 | Piako map 4 |
| Map 11 | Piako map 5 |
| Map 12 | |
| Map 13 | |
| Map 14 | |
| Map 15 | |
| Map 16 |
Land managment and licensing
Land was acquired for the various flood protection schemes as far back as the 1920’s with the Waihou Ohinemuri River Improvement Scheme. Read more here.
Land acquisition and development of the flood protection schemes continue today, as required for stop bank design flood level maintenance in sinking soils, channels widening or pump upgrades in flood prone areas.
The Land Management team, part of the wider asset management team, manages council’s interests in land and ensures that the necessary agreements, easements and encumbrances are in place and that the portfolio is managed to the prescribed levels of service. Standards are in place to protect the interests of all parties involved, including Crown agencies, iwi, district councils and the general public and to meet council’s responsibilities under legislation including health and safety impacts.
Iwi and crown co-management
Arrangements between the Crown and iwi ushered in a new era of co-management of the Waikato and Waipā rivers and the lands surrounding them. Waikato Regional Council has five Joint Management Agreements (JMAs) and one Co-managed Lands agreement with Waikato rohe iwi. These derive from the provisions within the iwi specific Treaty Settlement legislation. Read about the Waikato River and Waipā River co-management.
The land management team:
- regularly inspects the land portfolio and promotes best farm and property management practices
- liaises with councils engineers in scheme impacts on lands, renewals & maintenance planning
- ensures grazing licences are managed to meet terms and conditions
- negotiates new acquisitions and disposals
- conducts and presents annual and five-yearly licence fee reviews and presents alternative land use options to council and co-management policies
- implements the Land Management Strategy (under development).
Scheme areas
There are currently 285 existing licences and 60 proposed licences. These are all for land located in the Waihou, Piako and Lower Waikato zones.
Select an area below to see a map showing licensed land locations.
Contact us for more information, or call 0800 800 401 and ask for our Council Lands Officer or Land and Licenses Assistant.
To ask for help or report a problem, contact us
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