Managing stormwater to avoid catastrophic flooding will be a key focus of a major stormwater conference getting underway in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland this week (23-25 May).

The Water New Zealand Stormwater Conference 2023 is being opened by Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty and brings together more than 500 stormwater professionals and experts across two and a half days of keynote and technical presentations as well as workshops, site visits and case studies.

Water New Zealand chief executive, Gillian Blythe says future stormwater management is pivotal to ensuring a liveable and healthy environment for all of Aotearoa New Zealand.

She says the flooding events earlier this year have shown the devastation that climate change and more extreme weather is already having on many communities.

“We need to find long term sustainable solutions and we urgently need a more planned and nationally led approach to stormwater and flood management.

“There has been long term under-investment in stormwater compared to drinking and wastewater.

“As well as presentations and discussion on building better infrastructure, tackling skills shortages, Te Mana o te Wai and making room for water, we’ll be looking specifically at the recovery after the recent flooding and our readiness for future events.”

Two workshops on urban design and resilience will be held tomorrow prior to the conference getting under way.

See the conference programme and pre-conference workshops.

© Scoop Media