CPWL
Emergency & Dam Safety Management
What to do in an Emergency?
Any emergency relating to CPWL infrastructure should be notified to the CPWL Emergency number.
The emergency number is operated by Answer Services (NZ) and is monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Calls will be answered, details of the emergency will be taken, and your call will then be patched through to the on-call CPWL Maintenance Technician for initial response and, if necessary, escalation and response via the CPWL Emergency Response Plans and Dam Safety Management Plans.
CPWL Emergency Number 03 928 2966
Dam Safety Management
CPWL own and operate two large dams within the scheme area. CPWL takes Dam Safety very seriously and we undertake regular surveillance and monitoring to ensure our structures are performing as expected. We rely on engineering experts to provide us with reliable Dam Safety technical advice and we follow and enact their recommendations as appropriate.
Emergency Management and Response
Emergency Management
CPWL have Emergency Management Plans in place to ensure that the business is well prepared for emergency situations across all aspects of the scheme. We take our emergency management responsibilities very seriously.
Our Emergency Management Plans ensure that the CPWL Board, Management and Staff understand the actions to take during an emergency. Our Emergency Management Plans also ensure that all systems, tools, processes, resources, and equipment are in place and available to effectively manage an emergency when/if required.
We have aligned our Emergency Management Plans with the Coordinated Incident Management System (better known as CIMS) to ensure that our systems and terminology align directly with those commonly used by New Zealand emergency services and Civil Defence.
As a team, we undertake regular emergency management training and regularly test our emergency plans with drills and exercises.
Dam Safety
CPWL owns and operates two large water bodies, the Rakaia Headrace Canal, and the Sheffield Storage Pond, which are categorised as large Dams. Each dam has its own Dam Safety Management Plan in place. These plans cover all operational and maintenance aspects of the Dam to ensure they are operated and maintained safely.
A key component of our Dam Safety Programme is regular surveillance and monitoring, annual deformation surveys to ensure there is no movement in the Dam Embankments and regular Dam Safety Reviews, undertaken by external technical Dam safety experts, Riley Consultants.
Emergency Response
At the core of our Emergency Response Plans and Dam Safety Management Plans are our Emergency Action Plans (EAP) and Emergency Evacuation Plans (EEP).
Emergency Action plans enable CPWL staff to respond appropriately to an emergency. The action plans outline who must be notified in each emergency and provide detailed procedures and processes for escalating an emergency incident to emergency service organisations.
Emergency Evacuation plans are in place to cover the unlikely requirement of an emergency evacuation of nearby residents. All emergency response plans and contact details for potentially affected residents are regularly reviewed and updated.
Emergency response procedures are practiced regularly and whenever possible we work with Civil Defence to integrate CPWL emergency response exercises into any emergency exercises taking place in the region.
Our Dam Safety Management programme is fully aligned with the New Zealand Society on Large Dams (NZSOLD) Dam Safety Guidelines (2015). We regularly review our Dam Safety plans, processes, systems and procedures to ensure they are aligned with current best practice. We regularly undertake external Dam Safety Reviews. External Dam Safety Consultants undertake both Intemediate Dam Safety Reviews (IDSR's) and five yearly Comprehensive Dam Safety Reviews (CDSR's)
Fire Hydrants on Farm Turnouts
CPWL has a close working relationship with Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ).
In 2018 FENZ and CPWL entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). As a result, a number of on-farm turnouts have been fitted with approved fire hydrant connections. The MOU enables FENZ to access water from the scheme via these hydrants to assist with firefighting in the region.
The location of the hydrants was agreed with FENZ, and they are located strategically across the CPWL scheme. FENZ have co-ordinates of locations embedded into their fire response processes.
Our close working relationship with FENZ ensures that CPWL notify FENZ if there is, for any reason, no water available from the scheme. FENZ also notify CPWL whenever they have taken water from the Scheme.
