For Councils and Maintenance Contractors

Surface Water and Flood Monitoring

Flood events are hitting New Zealand communities harder and more often. Councils need real-time visibility across river catchments, stormwater networks, and flood-prone roads, but most locations still have no monitoring in place.

HiLo's battery-powered radar sensors can be deployed in minutes and run for years, providing real-time water level data wherever monitoring is needed.

The monitoring gap

Regional councils operate flood monitoring networks across major waterways. These are essential for flood forecasting, but they were never designed to cover every location where flooding causes problems.

Many flood impacts occur at sites with no monitoring in place:

  • River reaches and tributaries outside the gauged network
  • Stormwater catchments and urban drainage systems
  • Road crossings, bridges, and floodways
  • Community infrastructure where early warning is critical

HiLo LS1-R monitor installed at a culvert intake blocked by debris during a flood event

Complementing existing flood warning infrastructure

HiLo is designed to complement, not replace, traditional flood gauges.

Regional councils already deploy HiLo monitors across their flood monitoring networks, both as primary instruments, and for redundancy alongside existing gauges.

HiLo monitors are also deployed where gauging infrastructure has not previously been practical. This allows councils and maintenance contractors to increase monitoring coverage quickly, improving visibility in locations that were previously unmonitored.

HiLo flood monitor installed alongside a council staff gauge at a road crossing

Flood monitoring applications

HiLo flood monitoring systems are used across a wide range of surface water applications, including:

  • River and creek level monitoring
  • Stormwater and urban catchment monitoring
  • Culvert and underpass flood detection
  • Highway and road surface flooding
  • Airport, energy, and industrial site drainage

Across these use cases, the common requirement is fast deployment, minimal maintenance, and reliable data during rapidly changing conditions.

HiLo LS1-R flood monitor mounted on a stainless steel mounting arm
HiLo mobile app on Android used to commission a sewer manhole monitor in the field
HiLo sewer monitoring dashboard showing live level data and alerts across a wastewater network

A turnkey flood monitoring solution

HiLo provides an end-to-end flood monitoring system that combines:

This integrated approach allows organisations to move from planning to live monitoring quickly, without complex system integration or specialist installation.

Scale from one site to thousands

HiLo is simple enough to deploy at a single high-risk location, yet robust enough to support region-wide monitoring networks.

Organisations use HiLo for:

  • Individual flood-prone sites
  • Distributed catchment monitoring
  • Large infrastructure portfolios

Data can be accessed through the HiLo platform or integrated into existing systems, including modern data platforms and private SCADA networks.

Map view of HiLo sewer monitoring deployments across a wastewater network, from individual manholes to network-wide programmes
Logos of HiLo customers across New Zealand and Australia
Logos of HiLo customers across New Zealand and Australia

Trusted across Australasia

HiLo flood monitoring equipment is deployed across thousands of sites with councils and infrastructure operators throughout New Zealand and Australia.

This experience has shaped a solution designed for real-world conditions, operational use, and long-term deployment.

Looking to strengthen your flood monitoring or early warning capability?

Enquire here for more information.
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