The Dunedin City Council is organising a public drop-in information session that will discuss work on improving the South Dunedin community’s resilience to heavy rain events.
The session is an opportunity for residents to find out more about what’s been done since the 2015 floods to improve community resilience, and what further work is planned.
“We know the community is well-organised and prepared, and we have invested in improvements as well,” 3 Waters Group Manager Tom Dyers said.
Some improvements include a new, larger filter screen installed at the Portobello Road pumping station, and inspection, cleaning and maintenance regimes for mud tanks across the city. The council has also added more sandbags, door-knocking and emergency information centres during heavy rain events.
Dyer said planning is underway for major projects in the Kaikorai Valley area aimed at lessening wastewater flooding in South Dunedin.
“A further $35 million is budgeted on flood reduction within South Dunedin over the next decade,” he said. “We’re also currently looking closely at a more immediate option to reduce wastewater flooding in South Dunedin and we’ll be able to share more details about this at next week’s drop-in session.”
However, Dyer noted that even with all the work planned there will still be times when more rain falls than underground systems will cope with. In the medium to long-term, rising sea and groundwater will increase flooding and ponding risks.
The drop-in session is part of the conversation with the community in an effort to look at all the ways to safely adapt to climate change, Dyer added.
The session will be held on July 04. Anyone is welcome to drop in and talk to staff from various DCC departments as well as Civil Defence Emergency Management personnel.
