Helen Rutter, Senior Groundwater Hydrologist for Aqualinc, will share her report and expertise on what the potential impacts of sea level rise and rainfall increases will be on groundwater levels in Christchurch as a city, including coastal and low lying areas within.

Groundwater is often “out of sight, out of mind”, when considering risks to our urban areas. However, in many of our coastal areas, there is limited depth to groundwater. Recent monitoring have shown how dynamic groundwater level responses can be, being affected by rainfall, river flow and tides. This means that the combination of these main drivers can cause groundwater to rise to problematic levels; the effects of climate change and sea level rise will add to the existing issues.

Groundwater will play a significant part in the cities response to hazards driven by sea level rise. What are the implications for building and mitigation? What are the uncertainties and assumptions we keep hearing about?

Helen is a hydrogeological research scientist with 28 years’ expertise. This includes 17 years with the British Geological Survey working on varied hydrogeology projects in the UK and Africa. She has expertise in resource assessment, recharge processes, groundwater flooding, catchment characterisation, geology and geochemistry, and also considerable expertise in the application of GIS techniques to assist in analysing spatial data.

Presentation approx. 1 hour, followed by Q&A.

Venue is licensed and food can be purchased.