Island Reserve flood retention maintenance

The Island Reserve Flood Retention area is a vital asset to protect Ōtorohanga from potential flooding events. Over the years silt and vegetation growth diminish this retention area and cleaning out maintenance has to regularly be done to bring it back to its full retention potential. To this end the existing drains and surrounding areas are scraped out to increase the volume of stormwater the area can retain.

 

This year we will also look for the overflow pipe that is silted up and uncover it. This pipe is at the Tigers Rugby Club area at the end of Rangipare Street and serves to allow excess water to flow out to the river under gravity to delay the very large volume flood pumps to start up. This saves both on power and maintenance over time and prevents the pumps from stop / start operation that they were not designed for.

 

For a period the drain will be bare of grass, however the contractor will reseed this again.