Feds Focus | River maintenance falls short

Feds Focus | River maintenance falls short

July 16, 2026 · 8 min

About this episode

Robert Hickson discusses the impact of poor riverbed maintenance on recent flooding in Wairarapa.

Federated Farmers’ Wairarapa president Robert Hickson tells Bryan that recent rain in the region caused unnecessary flooding as a result of poor or non-existent riverbed maintenance. He says the buildup of gravel in key rivers exacerbated the floods and wants to see agreement reached on how to avoid the same situation in future.

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