Our Northland - Tõ Ttou Taitokerau Our Stories and updates on the great work happening around the region to help our environment, economy and people thrive. Brought to you by Northland Regional Council. Green light for $5M-plus flood works Pamela-Anne says over the past several years, the working group had workshopped about 20 A $5.1 million project to better protect against damaging flooding in and around Otiria and Moerewa could be underway within months after more than 40 affected flood mitigation projects and shortlisted three. Turntable Hill Bridge SH1 flood mitigation works - completed this year (A New Zealand Transport Agency/NRC project landowners recently gave their blessing to a proposed new Pokapu Rd bridge and an associated spillway. Otiria-Moerewa Flood Mitigation Spilway - under way A Kawakawa flood deflection bank - approved in the NRC's Long Term Plan and scheduled for 2024. News construction of the bridge could begin in April next year has been welcomed by Taumarere Flood Management Working Group member Pamela-Anne Ngohe-Simon for whom the buld can't come soon enough. Pamela-Anno Ngohe-Simon, left, and NRC's Chantez Connor-Kingi discuss the proposed floodworks She says the regional council had shown considerable patience as it worked through the issues with the community, something she wanted to see acknowledged on behalfr of locals. Pamela-Anne, who represents the Otiria Rugby Club on the five-year-old working group, says it met recently at Moerewa to receive the news members had been hoping for, that the project would go ahead. The spilway will skim the flood flow from the "I really think some of our people don't realise just how beneficial this will be. Ir's been a long time coming and we've all worked hard to get to this point." Otiria Stream and restore natural flow towards the Waiharakeke Stream. (Currently the flow is deflected towards houses and two marae and then eventually flows to the Waiharakeke after going through houses and the marae.) The bridge - which will have three 20-metre spans - will replace an existing smaller structure and be built from April, with construction of the spilway likely to begin in about a year's time in late 2022. "We're only paying $600,000 of the $5.1M involved." That meant the scheme would cost ratepayers just Pamela-Anne says while the works would not stop $52 annually, or roughly one dollar a week, for 12 flooding altogether, they would deliver 'enormous benefits, including reducing the severity of a typical flood by about 75% and importantly reduce the risk Working Group members include iwitangata years. Pamela-Anne says in heavy rain the Otiria and Waiharakeke Streams flood at Otiria and Moerewa to currently flood prone marae and the rugby club. whenua, KiwiRail, business, farmers, the New because their natural flows are affocted by roading "The residents of Otiria are supportive of the Zealand Transport Agency and others, Meanwhile, the regional council has acknowledged local siblings Emma Mathews and Sydney Baker who were instrumental in organizing whanau support for the project. and railroads in the area. spilway." In a big flood, about 80 percent of the water from The council says $2.8M of the project cost wil the Otiria Stream spils over nearby land as does be met by the central government's regional 70% from the Waiharakeke Stream. development organisation Kanoa - RDU, another The regional council plans to restore the streams 1.6M from the NRC and the balance -about natural flows by replacing the existing Pokapu Rd Bridge and building a new three span 60-metre-long single-lane bridge. It will be the third bridge built on what was their family land with the current bridge built in the 1940s, S600.000 - via a local rate on about 2300 properties in the affected area. That replaced an older bridge Sydney Baker remembers catching eels from as a child. ARA M MENT Northland Regional Council Justine Daw has taken the reins as Pou Tataki or head of the programme to restore the health and mauri of Kaipara Moana, the world's second-largest natüral harbour. The Kaipara Moana Remediation Programme (KMR) is an ambitious $300 million, decade-long plan to reverse ongoing environmental degradation by halving sediment loss from land to sea. Proud to help fund these life-saving services Working together to keep Northlanders safe thanks to Justine is an experienced executive leader and director who has worked in international relations, commercial consultancy, the environmental sector, and the scierice and innovation system funding collected through our emergency services rate. More information'about KMR can be found online at www.kmr.org.nz For more info visit www.nrc.govt.nz/emergencyservices Our Northland - Tõ Ttou Taitokerau Our Stories and updates on the great work happening around the region to help our environment, economy and people thrive. Brought to you by Northland Regional Council. Green light for $5M-plus flood works Pamela-Anne says over the past several years, the working group had workshopped about 20 A $5.1 million project to better protect against damaging flooding in and around Otiria and Moerewa could be underway within months after more than 40 affected flood mitigation projects and shortlisted three. Turntable Hill Bridge SH1 flood mitigation works - completed this year (A New Zealand Transport Agency/NRC project landowners recently gave their blessing to a proposed new Pokapu Rd bridge and an associated spillway. Otiria-Moerewa Flood Mitigation Spilway - under way A Kawakawa flood deflection bank - approved in the NRC's Long Term Plan and scheduled for 2024. News construction of the bridge could begin in April next year has been welcomed by Taumarere Flood Management Working Group member Pamela-Anne Ngohe-Simon for whom the buld can't come soon enough. Pamela-Anno Ngohe-Simon, left, and NRC's Chantez Connor-Kingi discuss the proposed floodworks She says the regional council had shown considerable patience as it worked through the issues with the community, something she wanted to see acknowledged on behalfr of locals. Pamela-Anne, who represents the Otiria Rugby Club on the five-year-old working group, says it met recently at Moerewa to receive the news members had been hoping for, that the project would go ahead. The spilway will skim the flood flow from the "I really think some of our people don't realise just how beneficial this will be. Ir's been a long time coming and we've all worked hard to get to this point." Otiria Stream and restore natural flow towards the Waiharakeke Stream. (Currently the flow is deflected towards houses and two marae and then eventually flows to the Waiharakeke after going through houses and the marae.) The bridge - which will have three 20-metre spans - will replace an existing smaller structure and be built from April, with construction of the spilway likely to begin in about a year's time in late 2022. "We're only paying $600,000 of the $5.1M involved." That meant the scheme would cost ratepayers just Pamela-Anne says while the works would not stop $52 annually, or roughly one dollar a week, for 12 flooding altogether, they would deliver 'enormous benefits, including reducing the severity of a typical flood by about 75% and importantly reduce the risk Working Group members include iwitangata years. Pamela-Anne says in heavy rain the Otiria and Waiharakeke Streams flood at Otiria and Moerewa to currently flood prone marae and the rugby club. whenua, KiwiRail, business, farmers, the New because their natural flows are affocted by roading "The residents of Otiria are supportive of the Zealand Transport Agency and others, Meanwhile, the regional council has acknowledged local siblings Emma Mathews and Sydney Baker who were instrumental in organizing whanau support for the project. and railroads in the area. spilway." In a big flood, about 80 percent of the water from The council says $2.8M of the project cost wil the Otiria Stream spils over nearby land as does be met by the central government's regional 70% from the Waiharakeke Stream. development organisation Kanoa - RDU, another The regional council plans to restore the streams 1.6M from the NRC and the balance -about natural flows by replacing the existing Pokapu Rd Bridge and building a new three span 60-metre-long single-lane bridge. It will be the third bridge built on what was their family land with the current bridge built in the 1940s, S600.000 - via a local rate on about 2300 properties in the affected area. That replaced an older bridge Sydney Baker remembers catching eels from as a child. ARA M MENT Northland Regional Council Justine Daw has taken the reins as Pou Tataki or head of the programme to restore the health and mauri of Kaipara Moana, the world's second-largest natüral harbour. The Kaipara Moana Remediation Programme (KMR) is an ambitious $300 million, decade-long plan to reverse ongoing environmental degradation by halving sediment loss from land to sea. Proud to help fund these life-saving services Working together to keep Northlanders safe thanks to Justine is an experienced executive leader and director who has worked in international relations, commercial consultancy, the environmental sector, and the scierice and innovation system funding collected through our emergency services rate. More information'about KMR can be found online at www.kmr.org.nz For more info visit www.nrc.govt.nz/emergencyservices