River alerts system gets a long-awaited update
Horizons Regional Council’s river alert system has received an update, making the system more effective in providing automated alerts in floods, the council said.
The alert system is a free service that phones users when river or stream levels reach a certain height at their nominated location. It’s a popular service for landowners near waterways, and can help decisions as to when to take action to protect assets and property.
Horizons group manager regional services and information, Ged Shirley, said this system update is long-awaited, and has been undertaken carefully to ensure effective operation and clear alerts.
“Our river alert system needed an update to address delays with the previous system sending out alerts in a timely manner,” said Shirley.
“This new update reduces this risk by providing faster sending of alerts to users so they have more time to act on the warning. It also now has double the capacity for signed-up users than what the old system could handle.
“The river monitoring sites we use to capture the river height data, and which trigger the automated alerts to be sent out, had also changed and needed updating. Since rivers naturally change over time, or can be damaged by extreme weather such as Cyclone Gabrielle, movement of these sites is a regular and expected part of maintenance for this system.
“The update also provides more accurate pronunciation of Ma¯ori names to ensure the system is as effective as possible in providing the service it was designed for,” he said.