The implementation of the natural hazards adaptation strategy for the Head of Lake Whakatipu area will begin in mid-2025 by the Strategy’s partners: Otago Regional Council (ORC), Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) and Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Otago as well as the community, individuals, private assets owners and business owners.
Progress of the strategy implementation will be shared and updated on this page periodically as well as through community engagement sessions and/or programme newsletters.
The following are key activities ORC will undertake to support the monitoring of the progress:
Community, individuals, private asset owners and business owners play an important role in this Strategy. This includes:
QLDC carries out their activities through plans such as Long-term Plan, Spatial Plan and District Plan. This includes:
ORC is responsible for:
CDEM Otago leads and coordinates the four Rs of emergency management:
| Status | Action | Goal this contributes towards | Agency responsible | Time frame |
| Underway or planned | ORC and QLDC collaborate to develop a governance framework or memorandum of understanding (MoU) for addressing adaptation issues at the Head of the Lake and/or across the district, including the implementation of adaptation actions to improve resilience. | 1 | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards) Queenstown Lakes District Council |
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| Underway or planned | ORC to partner with mana whenua to ensure mana whenua values and aspirations and mātauraka Kāi Tahu is embedded into decision-making and implementation of the Strategy, following the lead of Aukaha and Te Ao Mārama. | All goals | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards) Aukaha and Te Ao Mārama Inc |
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| Underway or planned | Work together with QLDC, Otago CDEM, mana whenua and local community to ensure coordinated and consistent approach to implementation of actions aligning with this Strategy. | All goals | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards) Queenstown Lakes District Council Civil Defence Emergency Management Otago Aukaha and Te Ao Mārama Inc Glenorchy Community Association |
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| Underway or planned | Work together to mainstream adaptation across ORC work programmes and ensure our work aligns with this Strategy and towards achieving each goal. | All goals | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards, Environmental Implementation, Engineering, Integrated Catchment Management) | Ongoing |
| Status | Action | Goal this contributes towards | Agency responsible | Time frame |
| Existing | ORC to Investigate hazards and risks as part of usual business. | 1, 2 | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards) | Ongoing |
| New | Geomorphic change monitoring and assessment Maintain an awareness of locations and scale of geomorphic changes (e.g., active river channel position, bed levels and rates of change) which may have direct impacts or exacerbate natural hazard characteristics. Collect LiDAR, aerial imagery - spatial extent to include at least Dart, Rees, and Buckler (at least extent of 2019 survey). Cross section survey and/or bathymetric LiDAR. Undertake geomorphic change detection analysis. Notes: The monitoring is not restricted to the Head of Lake Whakatipu area and assessments may be at catchment scale, if appropriate. This information will: Enable proactive response to issues. Enable the updating of flood hazard assessments to ensure they provide representation of current conditions (e.g., bed levels). |
2 | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards) with external support |
Periodic (at least every 5 years) or when new LiDAR is available |
| Existing | Data collection to document major flooding (or other hazard) events Improve the recording and understanding of hazard event characteristics (e.g., floodwater extents, depths and flow pathways), and the impacts of those events. The types of data collected will depend on the hazard and the impact and may include: Post-event LiDAR. During-event or immediately post-event aerial imagery. During-event or post-event observations (on-ground inspections and/or drone imagery). Develop an online data portal to enable collation of crowdsourced natural hazard event observations (e.g., photographs). On-ground post-event survey (debris survey). Assessments/observations of damages/impacts (infrastructure, or residential). Geotechnical assessments. Post-earthquake assessments (e.g., landsliding, liquefaction, subsidence). This information will: Assist with hazard/risk assessments by providing ground-truthed observations of hazard events. Be valuable for calibration/validation of future hazard modelling. |
2, 3 | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards) with external support |
After hazard events |
| Monitoring and analysis of signals/triggers/thresholds SIGNALS – give us a heads up about changes Growth in costs to maintain and repair assets. Lower level of service (e.g., due to delta growth, riverbed aggradation, channel movement). Frequency, number or impacts of flooding events reaching nuisance level. Movement of active river channel towards high value areas and assets Negative impacts on community wellbeing (e.g., concern and anxiety). Insurance affordability or coverage TRIGGERS – points where review and decisions are made Decision-making cycles (3-year, 10-year, 30-year) Opportunities Significant natural hazard event with unacceptable outcomes THRESHOLDS – unacceptable conditions we are trying to avoid Extended disruption to road access from Queenstown. Frequent or severe damaging or disruptive events. Loss of amenity and cultural values. Lengthy displacement of people following extreme events. Withdrawal of maintenance, decline in levels of service. Unaffordable insurance premiums or withdrawal of insurance and bank finance. Other signals and triggers may be selected during implementation. |
2 | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards) with input from Queenstown Lakes District Council and external support |
Periodic (at least every 5 years) | |
| Communication and reporting of physical environment monitoring Data collection and analysis findings will be communicated to key project partners and stakeholders. A brief environmental monitoring update report will be prepared every 3 years summarising any notable natural hazards event/impacts. One-off standalone event reports may be prepared for any significant event – summarising causes, impacts, and ORC responses. Reports will be distributed to key contacts through existing channels (e.g., ORC e-newsletter, project website). |
2 | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards) | 3 yearly updates One-off reporting for significant events |
| Status | Action | Goal this contributes towards | Agency responsible | Time frame |
| New | Develop a long-term recovery plan for a potential major hazard event, including ways to minimise maladaptation post-event and ensure recovery considers long-term adaptation opportunities. | 1, 3, 5 | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards) Civil Defense Emergency Management Otago Queenstown Lakes District Council |
Ongoing |
| Existing | Operate a network of near real-time rainfall and water level stations across the region to support flood forecasting and emergency response with a 24/7 duty roster to support forecasting duties and any necessary response. | 2, 3 | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards, Engineering, Environmental Monitoring) Civil Defense Emergency Management Otago |
Ongoing |
| Existing | Monitor and ensure ORC’s network of environmental monitoring stations remains fit for purpose, providing information for flood response, for documentation of flood events, and for public awareness of river flow, lake, and lagoon levels. Review of performance of the flood forecasting systems (lake level and lagoon level forecasting). Review of hydrological monitoring network (any opportunities for improvement?). New/temporary monitoring in some circumstances (e.g., landslide dam formation). This action is intended to ensure the monitoring network and forecasting systems provide the most suitable coverage. |
1, 2 | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards, Environmental Monitoring) | Periodic reviews One-off temporary monitoring |
| Existing | Capability development and awareness raising Undertake public/internal education to develop knowledge and raise awareness of risks and natural hazards to communities and Community Response Group’s members. Share lessons learned from emergency response with communities. Introduced and organised training sessions for Community Response Group members on how to use Community Emergency Hub Guide. |
1, 2, 3 | Civil Defense Emergency Management Otago | As needed Annually |
| Existing | Engagement with communities and stakeholders Communicate prior to forecast weather events to have a common understanding around Lake and Lagoon levels, river flows and potential outcomes of the forecast weather. Communicate with communities about changes in risk and readiness. Work with Community Response Group to coordinate emergency support before, during and after an emergency. Organised consultations with communities on emergency proposed plans and guidelines. Convene meetings with communities and stakeholders to decide a scale of an emergency event. |
1, 2, 3 | Civil Defense Emergency Management Otago Community Response Group |
As needed Annually |
| Existing | Risk communication and early warnings Provide right and trusted information about natural disasters to communities so that they can prepare effectively for emergency events. |
3 | Civil Defense Emergency Management Otago Queenstown Lakes District Council |
Frequently Per event |
| Existing | Provide community resilience equipment Provide communications equipment to not only communicate locally but also communicate to the Emergency Operations Centre in Queenstown if BAU communications systems have failed. Provided equipment for communities to better prepare for emergency events: 4000W Petrol Inverter Generator Petrol Container Extension cords Multi boxes Rechargeable LED light 20Watt Work-lights Tripod LED light 60Watt Work-lights Handheld torches and spare batteries. |
3 | Queenstown Lakes District Council Civil Defense Emergency Management Otago |
As needed One-off |
| Existing | Develop and share emergency guides and plans and update annually Glenorchy Community Resilience Guide (draft in progress). Glenorchy Community Response Plan (draft in progress). Developed Glenorchy Flood Guide. Developed Community Emergency Hub Guide. Developed Community Emergency Preparedness Brochure. |
3 | Civil Defense Emergency Management Otago Community Response Group |
Update annually |
| Existing | Training and exercises for Community Response Group and Emergency Hub implementation Provided training to help Community Response Group set up Emergency hubs, operate radios, and for community response planning. Exercise the implementation of the Community Emergency Hub to gain an understanding of expectations of the community, emergency services and local government as well as clarify any ambiguity or operational expectations that may present during an actual emergency. |
3 | Civil Defense Emergency Management Otago Community Response Group |
One-off As needed |
| Status | Action | Goal this contributes towards | Agency responsible | Time frame |
| Underway or planned | Ensure the ORC Natural Hazards Portal includes up-to-date information on natural hazards and the impacts of climate change, to provide the community with a single location for information. | 2, 3 | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards) | |
| Underway or planned | Maintain ORC Head of Lake Whakatipu adaptation webpages with relevant and up-to-date information, including latest reports, Council updates and key programme milestones. | 2 | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards and Communications) | Ongoing |
| Underway or planned | Provide newsletter updates about programme milestones and/or progress towards actions to inform community members and be accountable to the Strategy. | 2 | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards and Communications) | As needed |
| New | ORC to attend Glenorchy Community Association (GCA) meetings as and when required, at least annually, to provide updates about programme milestones and progress towards actions and act as a check-in with the community. | 2, 3 | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards) | Annually or as needed |
| Underway or planned | Ensure that ORC’s messaging about natural hazards adaptation and adaptation workstreams is communicated in a way that is understood by a wide audience. | 2 | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards and Communications) | Ongoing |
| Underway or planned | Monitor the headofthelake@orc.govt.nz inbox for public enquiries and information relating to the programme. Consider other methods and tools for capturing community feedback. | 2 | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards) | Ongoing |
| Status | Action | Goal this contributes towards | Agency responsible | Time frame |
| Underway | Consider natural hazard property information for resource and building consents. | 4 | Queenstown Lakes District Council | Ongoing (BAU) |
| Underway or planned | ORC and QLDC to collaborate to ensure common adaptation priorities, information and actions identified in this Strategy inform and input into the next ORC and QLDC Long-Term Plan, Spatial Plan, District Plan and other relevant policies and plans. | 1, 2 | Otago Regional Council Queenstown Lakes District Council |
Every LTP cycle |
| Natural hazard information is included on LIM reports. | 1, 2 | Queenstown Lakes District Council | ||
| New | ORC and QLDC to collaborate on path forward for assessing risk tolerance with the community (once the proposed RPS is operative). | 1, 2, 3, 4 | Otago Regional Council Queenstown Lakes District Council |
Once the proposed RPS is operative |
| Status | Action | Goal this contributes towards | Agency responsible | Time frame |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Underway | Routine maintenance of transport network, including QLDC roading assets, Glenorchy jetty and marina. | 1, 4 | Queenstown Lakes District Council | Ongoing/BAU |
| Underway | Glenorchy Area Bridge Resilience (24-34 LTP): Non-routine work required to protect the serviceability of the Glenorchy, Paradise, Rees River bridge assets following damage, and to minimise threat of road closure due to natural phenomena. | 1, 4 | Queenstown Lakes District Council | As required, budgeted biennially |
| Underway | Raising Kinloch Road (24-34 LTP): Raising Kinloch Road in conjunction with two-yearly gravel extraction under the Rees River bridge. | 1, 4 | Queenstown Lakes District Council | As required, budgeted biennially |
| New | Develop Operational River Management Plans, including the Dart and Rees floodplains.
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1, 4 | Otago Regional Council (Engineering and Natural Hazards) | 2025 Reviewed every 2 years |
| New | Develop a gravel management plan for the Buckler Burn
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1, 4 | Otago Regional Council (Engineering and Natural Hazards) | 2025 Reviewed every 2 years |
| Underway | Annual vegetation management, rock armouring and gravel management
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3, 4, 5 | Otago Regional Council (Engineering) | Ongoing/Annually |
| Existing | Maintenance of Rees River floodbanks
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1, 4 | Otago Regional Council (Engineering and Natural Hazards) | Every 1 year |
| New | Floodplain and rivers
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1, 4, 5 | Otago Regional Council (Engineering and Natural Hazards) | Every 2 years |
| New | Glenorchy Adaptation Pathways (30 Yr Infrastructure strategy): Work on Social Infrastructure required to address selected adaptation pathways, as budgeted in the QLDC 30-year Infrastructure Strategy. | 1, 3, 4 | Queenstown Lakes District Council | 2034–2054 |
| New | Provide information and support property owners to undertake property-level interventions to improve their resilience to natural hazards risks. | 3, 4 | Otago Regional Council (Natural Hazards) | |
| New | Head of the Lake Adaptation (24-34 LTP): Strategy to inform responses to identified hazards, providing scoped and costed solutions for input to the next LTP (27-37) and other key planning documents. | 1, 2, 4 | Queenstown Lakes District Council | 2034–2054 |