Blog Post #2
My first contract…
…is taking me to the sunny Gisborne region. I’ve repeatedly said that 26 degrees is my cut off point before I start feeling uncomfortable. What’s the forecast temperature the day I arrive? 30 degrees. F#ck. I’m certainly glad I spent two weeks in Northland over Christmas, I will have acclimatised, although temperatures never exceeded 25 in Northland! Alas, I bought some sunblock on my trip to purchase PPE. That was a nice feeling in itself, purchasing my own PPE. I couldn’t exactly rock up with a Greater Wellington Regional Council logo could I.
The contract in Gisborne is for approximately 8 weeks. I’ll be supporting the Land, Rivers and Drainage team complete an asset performance assessment of the Waipaoa River Flood Control Scheme (WRFCS). I’m sure more information on this particular scheme will feature in later posts, but for any fellow river nerds out there, here is a brief description:
The WRFCS was originally designed in 1949, to provide flood protection to the Poverty Bay floodplains surrounding Gisborne city. The catchment covers around 2130 sq km. The scheme currently consists of 63.1km of stopbanks and a number of other structures such as retaining walls, culverts, and vegetative edge protection.
Recent analysis has identified the discharge estimate for the flood event related to Cyclone Bola (1988), where it is believed that the current scheme was designed to convey the flow of a similar magnitude event. Newer discharge estimates relate to changes attributed to climate change out to 2090, and forms the basis of the existing WRFCS upgrade program.
The assessment I will undertake will assess the current performance of the assets along the extent of river scheme currently managed, whilst incorporating the effects of climate change. The investigation will assess both the capacity of the channel to attenuate design flows, but also the structural integrity of the stopbanks and other assets present along the river. The results should inform both the upgrade program and the LTP.
I’m very excited for the move to Gisborne, this is the start of the journey. I wonder what hobbies I’ll do in my spare time, it almost feels like surfing is a prerequisite to living there?! Haven’t touched foot on a surfboard before but let’s see how things go. Actually I’ve got a 2 week bike-packing trip across Europe later this year where I’ll be cycling along the Danube River, better get training for that!
Ciao for now…
