Kirikiri stopbank upgrade

Funded: $1.8m
Total cost: $3m
Project starts: 2024/25
Project ends: 2025/26

This project involves upgrading the Kirikiri Stream stopbanks to design level. These stopbanks, which run 3.7 kilometres from the mouth of the Kirikiri Stream to the SH26 bridge south of Kopu (south of Thames township), were constructed as part of the Waihou Scheme from the 1970s to the 1990s. Material for the stopbank upgrade is being sourced from sediment extracted from the stream in 2020/21 and from excavated stream silt following Cyclone Gabrielle.

Project benefits, adaptation, resilience and collaboration
This project will reduce the likelihood of the impacts from flooding to productive farmland, communities and roading infrastructure around Kirikiri stream, just south of Kopu, and SH26 near Thames township. This area is part of the gateway to Thames, and hence also the western coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. 

The infrastructure upgrade is critical for ongoing flood protection. By topping up the stopbanks, they will provide their required level of service against a one in 100-year flood event, which was agreed to by the communities they protect.

Using sediment (accumulated by tidal backflow from the Waihou River) from the stream itself for the upgrade increases channel capacity, improves habitat for aquatic species and reduces carbon emissions. 

The upgrade benefits local employment, tourism and development, which in turn helps support the local economy.

The project sits within a development area identified in Thames-Coromandel District Council’s Thames and Surrounds Spatial Plan. 

It is a multi-agency project which will eventually involve an upgrade to the SH26 bridge by New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi and the protection of iwi-owned land and archaeological sites.

Status update:

• Construction started before Christmas 2024.

Work in progress.