Big gap in funding for flood response – Ponter
Without increased funding, ‘‘the alternative could be declining resilience to flooding at a time that the threat of inundation has never been greater’’. Daran Ponter, Greater Wellington Regional Council chairperson
Wellington will be inundated with floods in the coming decades, and the regional council says it cannot respond urgently without central government help.
The chairperson of the Greater Wellington Regional Council, Daran Ponter, is pushing the Government to provide funding for stopbanks and other flood protections in light of alarming new climate change projections for Wellington.
There was a ‘‘significant investment gap’’ compared with the response needed to protect communities, he said.
New projections from Niwa released last week show that, by 2040, heavy rainfall would increase by 16% in some parts of the region, and by 8% on average.
These projections are focused on the Wellington region excluding Wairarapa.
The Wellington region has already seen the effects of extreme rainfall this winter, with slips shutting roads and damaging homes across the city.
The warming climate will cause more storms, ex-tropical cyclones, coastal storm surges, severe wind gusts, drought and intense rainfall bursts, the projections show. Ultimately this means more flooding, erosion, and slips. The worst-hit areas will be the southern coast and Wellington City.
Extreme bursts of rainfall for short durations – which tend to cause flooding – were likely to increase up to 40%, the projections show.
If funding was not increased for flood protections, ‘‘the alternative could be declining resilience to flooding at a time that the threat of inundation has never been greater’’, Ponter said.
Hope was not lost, he said, but cost pressures made it impossible for the regional council to construct all the stopbanks and flood protections needed in the region. ‘‘We could go faster and harder with stopbanks – they’re already in the pipeline.’’
Regional councils were being asked to provide flood protection for assets owned by the Government, such as state highways and schools, he said.
‘‘Greater Wellington is doing its part to protect regional communities but we shouldn’t be asked to effectively guarantee Crown assets for nothing.’’
The plans were already drawn up but could not be implemented as soon as necessary without rates increases or funding from central government.
Regional councils had been requesting funding for years, he said, as they ‘‘stare down more and more severe implications of climate change’’.
Earlier this year, Ponter, Environment Canterbury chairperson Jenny Hughey and Bay of Plenty Regional Council chairperson Doug Leeder wrote to the Government on behalf of Regional and Unitary Councils Aotearoa requesting additional funding for flooding.
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta responded in a letter acknowledging ‘‘more needs to be done’’ and said funding was being considered in the Future for Local Government review.