Floodplain infrastructure

Floodgates, levees and drains are common infrastructure across most NSW coastal floodplains. They help to reduce the impacts of minor to moderate flood events and day to day tidal inundation on many communities, but this has had negative impacts on estuarine environments in many locations.

While in-river water levels ultimately control floodplain drainage, this infrastructure also influences post flood recovery from large over bank flood events. This has the potential to impact the downstream environment through the creation and release of poor water quality. Understanding these impacts, how to best manage this infrastructure, and its limitations now and into the future, is an important step to increasing the resilience of flood impacted estuaries.

Types of works funded include:

assessment of priority hydrology management issues across floodplains and estuaries
priority floodplain infrastructure construction projects including design, fabrication, and earthworks
developing project planning and approval documentation.

Flood vulnerability and constraints of coastal floodplain-built assets

Project partners, the University of New South Wales, will assess vulnerability and constraints of coastal floodplain-built assets, such as floodgates and drains, across flood impacted estuary floodplains.

This project will assist Councils and State Government Agencies to prioritise future investment and reduce the impacts of floods. Catchments to be assessed include Cudgen, Cudgera, Mooball, Brunswick, Belongil, Bellinger-Kalang, Nambucca, Camden Haven, Port Stephens and Hawkesbury-Nepean.