Visualisation of Wairau
Plain groundwater response to August 2022 Wairau River flood
The video below shows a visualisation of the effect of the August 2022 storm and the large Wairau River flood that it generated on Wairau Plain groundwater levels.
The 3D visualisation of the water table surface was created with GIS tools and is based on cumulative measured hourly changes in groundwater elevation from 16-30 August 2022.
Groundwater level data used is from 10 MDC monitoring wells from Riverlands in the south-east Wairau Plain, to the Conders well north-west of Renwick, and sites between these points. The red cylindrical features represent these wells.
The Wairau River is the blue feature running along the northern edge of the Wairau Plain. Its thickness varies as the flow changes. Wairau River flow is also shown numerically.
The water table surface rises as Wairau River flow increases and falls as channel flows recede.
Higher groundwater elevations are shown as yellow or red with lower elevations as blue and green.
The groundwater table is hidden below the surface and tools like this are needed to show how it behaves in response to climate and pumping stresses.
