Orowaiti Cut Revisited In West Coast River-Mouth Review

Friday, 18 April 2025, 2:36 pm
Article: Lois Williams - Local Democracy Reporter

Buller’s Regional Council rep Chris Coll has asked for Westport’s Orowaiti River to be added to a list of river mouths that can be opened up at short notice when floods are looming.

The Council is reviewing its rules for digging out blocked ocean outlets, at the urging of Cr Peter Ewen, and in the wake of last year’s Wairoa flood disaster.

The Hawke's Bay Regional Council was accused of failing to open the Wairoa River bar in time to save the town from a one-in-250-year flood in Cyclone Gabrielle.

And an independent review recommended closer monitoring and preventive measures, including an overflow trench.

Cr Coll says the merits of an Orowaiti ‘cut’ have been hotly debated over the years, but he believes it deserves another look.

“If we ever need to tweak the planned stopbanks, it could give us a bit of wiggle room in terms of water levels, a safety valve of sorts.”

The Orowaiti and its lagoon act as an overflow for the Buller River, effectively turning the town into an island in large flood events.

A NIWA report in 2015 said the idea of a cut through the sandbar should be explored but warned it could also expose the town to the risk of flooding from tidal surges.

“I have some ideas about that and I’d like the Council to have another look at it because they’re going through the process with all the other rivers at the moment, “ Cr Coll told LDR.

In a report to the council’s Operations Committee this week, catchment staff proposed work to rationalise the way the council manages river mouth risks on the Coast.

The process is at present a mixed bureaucratic bag, though Councillor Ewen says compared to Hawkes Bay, the Coast is ahead of the game when it comes to urgent action.

More than 40 rivers and creeks up and down the coast, listed in the (outdated) Regional Coastal Plan, can have their ocean outlets opened as a permitted activity - no resource consent is needed.

Three more on the ‘permitted’ list - Karamea, Pororari and New River - can have their outlets to the sea opened when floodwaters back up to a ‘trigger’ level, threatening property.

But it cannot dig out a new, more sustainable outlet without resource consent even when the current one is likely to be quickly choked again by sand and sediment.

That rule was written after consultation with DOC and iwi some years ago, staff reported – but more flexibility could be helpful .

Cr Ewen says he supports Cr Coll’s suggestion that the Orowaiti Cr should be on the ‘permitted’ list, and he would also include the Hokitika River.

“The biggest flood Hokitika ever had was in 1947 when the sand bar was choking the river mouth - the water was all through the town. We should be looking back at our history.”

The committee approved the staff’s proposed work programme - and noted that the issues raised would be up for review shortly, as work begins on the new Regional Coastal Plan.

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