Rochester residents Ali and Paul Poort, Hydrology and Risk Consulting project manager John McCartney, North Central Catchment Management Authority project manager waterways and floodplain Nathan Treloar and Goulburn-Murray Water river operations manager Andrew Shields. Photos: Emily Donohoe
Photo by
Emily Donohoe
Nothing was off the table at Campaspe Shire Council’s Rochester Flood Study drop-in sessions.
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Three sessions were held on Monday, August 25, in the morning, afternoon and evening, to gather community input around flood mitigation measures.
The study, which began in July 2024 under the direction of consultancy firm Hydrology and Risk Consulting, has progressed from data collection to mapping and modelling to mitigation.
Project manager John McCartney said the scope for mitigation investigation was vast.
“No stone’s being left unturned,” he said.
“With these, we’ll work them through our community reference committee and basically, with their agreement or advice, we’ll start to shortlist it down to the ones that have got some potential, not resisting the cost.
“We’re looking for something that will work, then when we’ve got down to that, we’ll start to look at economics and the rest of it.”
Among the flood mitigation options suggested, many focused on the management of Lake Eppalock, localised barriers, spillways, channel capacity and retarding basins.
HARC will model these suggestions, including localised and temporary barriers for community assets such as Rochester and Elmore District Health Service.
“There’s quite a bit of interest there in what can be done to do pre-releases and control the level of it prior to any forecast events,” Mr McCartney said.
“There’s another associated one looking at the retarding basins further up in the catchment above Eppalock. That’s certainly an issue that’s come up.
“Temporary flood barriers to be brought out and put around ... key bits of infrastructure, trying to keep them operational, so the community can at least function.”
Representatives from HARC, North Central Catchment Authority, Campaspe Shire Council and Goulburn-Murray Water spoke to residents about their suggestions.
Mr McCartney said he was impressed by locals’ engagement with the flood study over the past year.
“I’ve been really pleased with how the community of Rochester has responded and participated,” he said.
“No doubt they’re really keen to see something happen and come up with an answer.”
HARC engineers Andrew Northfield and Tim Craig, and Campaspe Shire councillor Paul Jarman.
Photo by
Emily Donohoe
Campaspe Shire councillor Paul Jarman attended the sessions, and said he felt they were an important step for the community and for council.
On a personal level, he said he was passionate about equipping the region for the future.
“It is the community’s opportunity to look at what the mitigation options that are available,” Cr Jarman said.
“All the plans and the maps and the flood studies are now merging into the discussion around, ‘what does the mitigation (look like) for the future of Campaspe and Eppalock, that impacts on Campaspe hugely?’.
“This is important to the community I grew up in and including the surrounding districts that were affected by the 2011 and 2022 floods.”
Mitigation suggestion submissions closed on Sunday, August 31, with the finalised flood study scheduled to be ready by Christmas.
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