The Whanganui Flood Management Review Group has reported good progress on some high priority investigations into flooding issues highlighted during the 19-20 June flood event.
The Group, comprising representatives from Horizons, Whanganui District Council and Whanganui River iwi, met last week to discuss the initial list of issues.
Horizons group manager river management Allan Cook said that all field work to survey the river channel between the Whanganui River mouth and Upokongaro has been completed and work to process the data is already well underway.
“This data will inform us of any changes in river bed levels and channel capacity since the last comprehensive survey in 1996 and will be used to aid a number of other investigation tasks, ” said Mr Cook.
“Two other high priority investigations are also underway and we hope to report on these early next year. These are considering options for dredging and bank alignment improvement in the vicinity of Q-West to increase the channel depth for storm water outlet and navigation, and looking at the condition of the Lower Matarawa Stream channel.”
The Group has identified 23 total areas of investigation to address flooding issues highlighted in June.
Whanganui District Council chief executive Kevin Ross said that an order of priority has been established to ensure that the work is undertaken efficiently.
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