Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated (NKII) has been researching and exploring options for improving river management and flood protection. There are two projects as follows:

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1. The Subsurface Processes in Braided Rivers project is an MBIE funded research project which has been running for the last 5 years and is at its end. Ngāti Kahungunu has been a partner in this research. We will be presenting what we have learnt about how braided rivers work below the surface, and how river management approaches including gravel extraction have influenced groundwater on the Heretaunga Plains. We’ll do our best to answer questions

2. The Mana Awa, Mana Whenua, Mana Tangata project is led by Kahungunu Taiao Unit, who have contracted NIWA to help. The aim of this project is to explore options through looking at historic river imagery and workshopping scenarios that could improving river management in a way that better aligns with mana whenua world view and tikanga.  The project is just starting and we need your help to define desired outcomes for the awa so we can co-develop scenarios that NIWA will model to assess flood protection. These results will be shared back at a future hui.