Dissemination of Flood Hazard Information - Lessons Learnt from Mangaroa and Wainuiomata Rivers

Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) has policies relating to identifying, assessing and informing communities about flood risk under the Regional Policy Statement for the Wellington Region. This work is carried out through the GWRC Flood Protection Department investigating flood hazards and making the resulting information available to the people and communities of the region.

For many of the floodplains in the Western part of the Wellington Region, flood hazard assessments have been carried out as part of a Floodplain Management Planning (FMP) process. For the Mangaroa and Wainuiomata Rivers, flood hazard assessments have been carried out primarily to identify hazard areas so that the hazard can be avoided, or management measures implemented for future development. Consequently, the flood hazard assessments were not part of an FMP, and generally did not involve a wide consultation process.

This paper outlines our reflections on the experience of disseminating flood hazard information, the challenges encountered and the resulting process proposed for communication utilising the lessons learnt from the release of flood hazard information for the Mangaroa and Wainuiomata Rivers.