Working solo for essential water data
As of today New Zealanders will have completed their first week in isolation.
But being in a bubble hasn’t been overly challenging for council worker Lachlan Cosgrove as he works to deliver essential services to the Hawke’s Bay community.
He’s a resource technician in hydrology for the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and works around the clock to maintain the hydrometric network across the region.
Cosgrove’s role isn’t one you would normally think about in the circumstances of a global pandemic, but is essential in providing real-time information about the water levels and rainfall sites across Hawke’s Bay.
The information Cosgrove collects is used as a means of flood and drought forecasting.
‘‘My job’s quite weird to explain,’’ he laughed, ‘‘it’s quite a niche field.
‘‘Our role is essential for drought forecasting and flood forecasting, which are the main reasons we maintain this network. In terms of our rivers, we’re still in a very lowflow area, despite the rain we’ve had in the last week.
‘‘Our equipment helps us to keep track of the amount of discharge that comes through rivers, this information helps consent holders who take water from the river, but can only do so when it’s reached a certain level.
‘‘We also make sure consent holders are working within the constraints of their consents.’’
Cosgrove said flood modelling was another aspect of his job and the information was provided to Civil Defence and the general public.
‘‘A lot of stakeholders from internal and external use the data we provide,’’ he said.
Isolation isn’t really an issue for Cosgrove as he works solo most of the time. ‘‘The network is divided up into certain areas which we take responsibility for, so we don’t need to do a lot of duo work.’’
Cosgrove maintains a combined catchment and works on the Tutaekuri, Tukituki and Wairoa rivers.
‘‘The rain we’ve had in the last two to four weeks has been helpful, but the real problem is we’ve only had about 10 per cent of annual rainfall compared to what we usually get.
‘‘We just need a week of slow continous rain to get the land green again. Not sure how well that would bode for those stuck in their houses in lockdown,’’ he said.