Horizons Regional Council is set to begin a range of projects in the Ruapehu District with the aim of helping specific areas to cope better with flooding.
Council group manager catchment operations, Dr Jon Roygard says the five river schemes in the district, which have developed over time, are primarily for vegetation clearance and/or flood protection.
“Councillors resolved via the 2024-34 Long-term Plan and 2025-26 Annual Plan processes to invest more into the Ruapehu schemes to accelerate river management and flood protection works,” said Dr Roygard.
Meetings between the Council, Ruapehu District Council and landowners, including a combined Ruapehu Scheme committee meeting this year, led to support for funding of various works across the district, which Horizons councillors voted at a recent meeting to proceed with.
“In Taumarunui, this will feature works at a point on Taupō Road close to the Whanganui River and further investigation of options to alleviate issues in the Tōtara Crescent area,” said Dr Roygard.
“In the Tōtara Crescent area, a large hill country catchment contributes to stream flows through the area before water flows into the Whanganui River. This water combines with urban stormwater systems and drains, leading to ponding. Options to address these issues have already been explored, but more analysis will be done before work is undertaken to inform possible solutions.
“The Taupō Road area is considered a priority location for issues similar to those in the Tōtara Crescent area. However, there is less information available on this area, so more scoping work will be required before work is undertaken.”
Flooding along Ohura Road near Maitere has been raised by the community in the past, with an engineering report completed in 2025, says Dr Roygard.
“Flow data from Horizons’ nearby environmental data monitoring site shows this location has likely flooded on average about eight or nine times per year since 2015,” he said.
“The engineering report resulted in proposed mitigation options, including implementing a flap gate and culvert upgrade, and removal of vegetation along and in the Ohura River.”
Vegetation clearance to improve channel capacity has already resumed in the Ohakune area following a period of limited activity. Alongside this, applications are being developed to apply for resource consent to allow for a wider range of activities in the area.
“A third component of work in the Ohakune area is about identifying risks to flood resilience. This includes investigating, costing and prioritising potential future actions.”
Some of this work will take place across multiple financial years, says Dr Roygard.
“A more climate-resilient Ruapehu District is the planned end result of this suite of works.”
