As well as maintaining flood protection and drainage schemes, ORC maintains some river channels by managing vegetation and monitoring and mitigating erosion.

We also own and maintain river management infrastructure across Otago. This includes several smaller schemes and isolated pieces of infrastructure outside the main flood protection and drainage schemes. This infrastructure includes:

  • Shotover Training Line, Queenstown – Guides flows and sediment in the Shotover River.
  • Matukituki Training Line, Matukituki River – Training line structure that deflects flood waters to the true left of the Matukituki River so that the downstream floodplain on the right bank could be re-established as farmland. 
  • Albert Town Rock Buttress, Albert Town – Mitigates the risk of erosion and land movement. 
  • Lower Waitaki Floodways, North Otago – Conveys flows from foothills to the Waitaki River. 
  • Lindsay Creek, Dunedin – Some rockwork and concrete walls are in place to minimise erosion and help keep the creek in its existing channel, and there is a debris trap at Bethunes Gully. 
  • Kaikorai Stream Stilling Basin, Green Island, Dunedin – Dissipates energy in the channel. 
  • Trees and vegetation are planted and maintained along river channels and margins to mitigate the risk of erosion and manage channel migration. 
  • Placed rock mitigates the risk of erosion. 

 

Overview of river management infrastructure