How could sea level rise impact the Bay of Plenty?

A new user-friendly tool has been developed to help low-lying communities visualise how different levels of sea level rise could impact the Bay of Plenty in the future.

Sea levels are rising globally, and the Bay of Plenty is no exception. Because this change is slow, it can be hard to picture what our coastline might look like in the long-term. To help our coastal communities understand this, Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council teamed up with the Waikato Regional Council to develop an easy-to-use online Sea Level Rise Viewer.

The new Sea Level Rise Viewer doesn’t predict sea level rise, instead it provides a simple representation of areas that could be exposed to varying levels of sea rise. The user is in control of what level they wish to display.

Nic Newman , Climate Change Programme Manager at Bay of Plenty Regional Council, says it's a great resource for anyone looking to see how rising sea levels might affect our coastline in the future.

"Sea level rise will likely have an increasing impact on our coastal communities in the coming decades and beyond. It’s our role as a Regional Council to help our communities better understand these impacts, and in the long-term, help them plan to adapt.

This viewer is one of many tools we have available to help communities understand what the future might look like,” he says.

The viewer uses the latest available ground elevation data as a basis for the bathtub model. It is not property specific and it does not factor in coastal dynamics or flood protection measures, therefore it should only be used as a visualisation tool to help people understand the potential effects of future sea level rise. It should not be used to predict actual flood areas. Always refer to local authorities for official flood risk information.

The Sea Level Rise Viewer tool will be periodically reviewed and updated to incorporate feedback as part of our continuous improvement process.

For anyone interested in current forecasts around future sea level rise, you can read more at www.searise.nz

For any queries on this new tool please contact the Climate Change Team at [email protected]

You can try the tool for yourself here: https://www.boprc.govt.nz/sea-level-rise-viewer/