Flood protection and drainage bylaw

Environment Canterbury manages 59 river control and drainage schemes from Kaikōura to Waitaki, protecting a total asset value of $691 million.

The purpose of the flood protection and drainage bylaw is to manage, regulate and protect these assets, or those under our control, from inappropriate modification, damage or destruction.

It is also vital we keep up maintenance across our flooding and erosion control and drainage schemes to prevent damage or danger to nearby communities and keep people and properties safe.

The bylaw ensures all this happens. It was initially adopted in 2013 and subsequently reviewed in 2018.

If you are planning work in a scheme area that we manage, you may require written authority before carrying out certain activities.

Obtaining authority under the bylaw is free of charge; however, we need you to apply using this online form so we can ensure the activity doesn’t affect the integrity or effective operation of our schemes.

Bylaw documents

You can search for your property on Canterbury Maps to see if you are in a scheme area, or you can look on the individual maps below. The maps have been grouped into three Schedules, covering Flood Protection Schemes, Drainage Networks, or Floodways.

If you are considering undertaking an activity that may require Authority under the Bylaw, please ensure you refer to the maps that were updated in 2018 on Canterbury Maps.

If you are considering undertaking an activity that may require resource consent under the Land and Water Regional Plan, please ensure you refer to the original Bylaw maps on Canterbury Maps.

There are only minor differences between the two and in most places are the same, but please ensure you are referring to the line appropriate to your purpose.

Bylaw

Flood Protection and Drainage Bylaw 2013 (amended January 2019) (PDF File, 760.88KB)

Bylaw overview

Infrastructure protected by the bylaw includes, but is not limited to:

Drains and small watercourses
Floodways
Defences against water including stopbanks, rock protection and groynes
Floodgates and culverts
Flood protection vegetation
Hydrological devices and equipment
Survey benchmarks

The types of activities that are likely to require prior written authority include, but are not limited to:

Widening deepening and infilling any drain or small watercourse
Altering, damaging or otherwise interfering with any drain or small watercourse, defences against water, flood protection vegetation, hydrological equipment and survey benchmarks
Placing any material or structure in, on or near a drain or small water course or defence against water
Connecting any pipe, channel or other flow conduit to a drain or small watercourse
Allowing stock to damage drains or small watercourses, defences against water and flood protection vegetation
Growing, damaging or removing flood protection vegetation

Bylaw Schedules - map volume

Schedule 1 - Flood protection, stopbanks, drains and small watercourses

Open the Main Stopbanks flood protection Index Map and click on the map number that you would like to view, or view each map individually (Maps 1–72).

Map - Schedule 1 Stopbanks flood protection vegetation drains and small watercourses - Index map (PDF File, 1.5MB)

Map 1 - Schedule 1 - Kaikoura Rivers (PDF File, 945.44KB)

Map 2 - Schedule 1 - Chatterton and Percival Rivers (PDF File, 951.4KB)

Map 3 - Schedule 1 - Conway River (PDF File, 1.897.9KB)

Map 4 - Schedule 1 - Waiau River (PDF File, 869KB)

Map 5 - Schedule 1 - Waiau River (PDF File, 904KB)

Map 6 - Schedule 1 - Waiau River (PDF File, 825KMB)

Map 7 - Schedule 1 - Pahau and Hurunui Rivers (PDF File, 1.61MB)

Map 8 - Schedule 1 - Pahau River (PDF File, 1.55MB)

Map 9 - Schedule 1 - Kowai River (PDF File, 1.56MB)

Map 10 - Schedule 1 - Waimakariri and Eyre Rivers (PDF File, 1.64MB)

Map 11 - Schedule 1 - Eyre and Cust Rivers (PDF File, 1.64MB)