Flood and river resilience

We are reducing river flood risk to people and property through building and maintaining high quality flood protection, land drainage and erosion control infrastructure.

This work provides an opportunity to maintain and enhance the natural character of our braided rivers through accelerated planting, weed control, wetland enhancement and other nature-based solutions to create healthy river berms or margins.

Along our river corridors we own and manage approximately 25,000 hectares of land, some of which is managed as Regional Parks – Waimakariri Regional Park, Ashley Rakahuri Regional Park and Takapō Regional Park. 

In the second half of 2025, we advocated for central government co-investment for flood resilience projects, and we secured co-funding of $21.5 million for nine projects across the region. 

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Manmade and natural infrastructure is a key line of defence for our communities during flooding events. There are 58 schemes in the region, and they all have different levels of service agreed with their community. 

The major flood protection and control schemes covered by service measure 19 are Kaikōura Rivers, Rakahuri Ashley, Waimakariri-Eyre-Cust, Ashburton Rivers, Orari-Waihi-Temuka, Opihi and the lower Selwyn Waikirikiri.

We are assessing the opportunities for using nature-based solutions that work with and enhance the environment, providing environmental, cultural, social and economic benefits. 

Examples of nature-based solutions include giving rivers room to move and using soft engineering solutions (e.g. vegetation). Examples of multi-benefit and river resilience solutions include improving recreational and biodiversity values, mahinga kai, fish passage and access.