GWRC provides a flood warning service across the whole region. People access this service in different ways:

1. By checking river levels on our website, http://graphs.gw.govt.nz/

2. By being signed up to a telephone warning list for one of our rivers or streams

3. Other means, such as calling our Hydroline voice mailboxes to check river flows

A wide range of people use our flood warning service, including:

· Farmers and other landowners with flood-prone land

· Civil Defence (and through them, local councils and emergency services)

· Contractors working in the rivers

Metservice provides severe weather warnings and weather forecasts, and GWRC provides information about current and predicted river behavior using our network of rain gauges and river flow gauges. These sites are connected to our network and website using radio and cellphone transmitters. GWRC staff will notify a flood warning when the river gauges reach predetermined alarm levels. These levels vary, but are generally around two thirds of an “annual” flood, ie. A flood expected to occur once a year on average. There would typically be a handful of alarms for each river in a given year.

Times and technology are changing, and a flood warning review is currently underway. GWRC will be getting in touch with selected stakeholders for feedback on how the current system works and discuss what sort of service we should be providing as well as how we can improve. The review will also take into account feedback received through the TKURFMP process. Some suggestions so far from the FMP Options Development are:

· Additional/upgraded rainfall and river flow sites (especially on the Waipoua River through Masterton, where a temporary site has already been set up)

· Improved flood forecasting

· Automated voice calling for the flood warnings instead of the manual telephone distribution list

· Use of cellphone txt messages

· Monitoring flows for the presence of landslide dams forming after earthquakes or heavy rain