Willinga Lake Floodplain Risk Management Study & Plan

Council received grant funding from the Australian Government's Preparing Australian Communities Program – Local Stream to undertake the Willinga Lake Flood Study and Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan to investigate the flood risk within the catchment. The Bawley Point and Kioloa villages are all accessed by Bawley Point Road which is occasionally inundated when water levels are elevated in Willinga Lake. The nature of the flood risk in the Willinga Lake Catchment is mainly from potential isolation to more than 1,000 properties, businesses, and three caravan parks, with fewer properties at risk from direct flood inundation. The flood risk to these communities is expected to be exacerbated by predicted climate change impacts, both in terms of frequency and magnitude. Recommended management measures to reduce the flood risk within this catchment as an outcome of this project may include infrastructure and emergency management procedures.

This project is being undertaken in accordance with the NSW Flood Prone Land Policy, the NSW Flood Risk Management Manual (2023) and in close collaboration with the NSW State Emergency Services (SES), the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW), and other agencies and stakeholders as required.

Council has engaged a consultant, Worley, (previously Advisian), to assist with the preparation of the Willinga Lake Flood Study and Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan. This study will improve Council’s understanding of flood behaviour and impacts on the community, and better inform management of flood risk in the study area.

Project Objective

The objective of this study is to improve understanding of flood behaviour and impacts, and better inform management of flood risk in the study area in consideration of the available information, and relevant standards and guidelines. It aims to provide an understanding of flood behaviour and consequences in the study area across the full range of potential flood events from frequent to extreme. It involves consideration of the local flood history, available collected flood data, and the development and calibration of hydrologic and hydraulic models.

The project also allows testing and investigating practical, feasible and economic management measures to treat existing, future and residual flood risk. The Floodplain Risk Management Study will provide a basis for informing the development of a Floodplain Risk Management Plan. The Floodplain Risk Management Plan will document the management of flood risk into the future. The plan will outline a range of measures to manage existing, future and residual risk effectively and efficiently, using the investigations undertaken as part of the Floodplain Risk Management Study. This includes a prioritised implementation strategy, which will detail how measures could be implemented.