Protecting Eden Park from Flooding During Rugby World Cup 2011

Eden Park has historically suffered from flooding during major storm events. This has ranged from serious flooding as in the historic Maoris vs Springboks test match in 1956, to less serious flooding of playing grounds and corporate areas in 2008. Flooding occurs as the underlying aquifer does not allow the Park’s soakage system to work and significant surface flows with an undersized stormwater network.

New Zealand does not want to be embarrassed during the Rugby World Cup (RWC) 2011 due to a typical rainy Auckland day in 2011. A solution to protect Eden Park had to be found. With significant budget cuts to the Stormwater programme and the potential $60m cost to construct a pipeline from Eden Park to Meola Stream, Auckland City embarked on a feasibility exercise to determine a viable option that would meet the tight programme, cost constraints and provide long term flood protection benefits to the wider catchment post the RWC.

Options such as treating the groundwater for potable use, groundwater abstraction to lower the aquifer, 2.0m diameter tunnels in rock to drain the aquifer, 3km long tunnels to the stream were some of the ideas that were investigated by a multi-party stakeholder and technical team. The feasibility study found a short term cost effective solution to protect Eden Park in time for the RWC and a long term opportunity to address the flooding issues in the wider catchment.