Joint media statement from Taupo District Council and Environment Waikato

A strategy designed to protect Lake Taupo’s foreshore from the effects of erosion and to help manage flood risk around the lake has now been agreed to by both the Taupo District Council (TDC) and the regional council Environment Waikato (EW).

The Lake Taupo Erosion and Flood Strategy was formally signed off by EW’s council yesterday following its adoption by TDC earlier in the week.

In a joint statement, TDC’s manager of strategic environmental policy Nick Carroll and EW’s catchment services group manager Scott Fowlds, said the strategy was the result of considerable joint effort by the two councils to find the best ways of managing erosion and flood risks.

The strategy was completed following the conclusion of work by a joint committee of TDC councillors Christine McElwee and Don Ormsby and EW councillors Laurie Burdett and Andra Neeley, along with an independent chair.

The joint committee found more work was needed to identify the exact causes of erosion around the lake, but said lake level management and human structures such as hydro dams and marina groynes were among things definitely contributing.

On managing flood risk, one of the committee’s findings is that the councils’ risk management should be enough to cope with a 1-in-100 year flood event.

Along with a strong emphasis on ongoing monitoring around the lake, the committee identified the high priority erosion areas and what type of physical works would be appropriate to address that erosion.

“We are extremely pleased to have got to this point. The councils will now be working together to identify the next steps they will be taking to implement the strategy,” Mr Carroll and Mr Fowlds said.