Otago Regional Council (ORC) own and operate the Lower Taieri, Lower Clutha, and Alexandra Flood Protection Schemes. Collectively the schemes comprise over 220 km of earthfill levees, together with numerous appurtenant structures, such as major spillways, flood gates and pumping stations. The schemes provide flood protection to significant and varied communities and infrastructure adjacent to the Clutha and Taieri rivers, for example Dunedin Airport, and towns such as Balclutha and Outram. The works were constructed at various times since the 19th century to a range of standards, and assets are at various lifecycle stages.
Regular and systematic condition and structural integrity assessment is a key aspect of operating flood protection schemes for resilient communities. This can be challenging due to the large spatial extent of multiple schemes. Efficient and effective on-the-ground visual inspection of the entire network is key. A field assessment methodology was developed which combined on-the-ground visual assessment with innovative use of GIS technology, for field data capture, recording, analysis and presentation.
The structural assessment methodology used LiDAR-derived digital elevation models (DEMs) integrated with the field data to screen the levee networks based on geometry condition, to identify critical locations for analysis. Levee susceptibility to hazards such as overtopping scour, piping, seismic performance and slope instability was assessed utilising a semi-quantitative multi criteria analysis. Subsequent efforts were focused on critical locations enabling analysis which would not be efficient on a scheme-wide scale. An outcome included a GIS database to enable rapid future review of asset information and condition.
The assessment coincided with the July 2017 Taieri River flood – the largest event in almost forty years, and a timely reminder of the importance of flood protection infrastructure for community resilience. This event also highlighted the importance of making use of such events to field-truth assessment results and test assumptions about scheme performance and vulnerable locations.
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ANCOLD is an incorporated voluntary association of organisations and individual professionals with an interest in dams in Australia.