The Lower Waitaki River Control Scheme maintains the system of braided river and helps to limit erosion by maintaining the braided channels, groynes and riparian plantings.

Most of this infrastructure was established by the former Waitaki Catchment Commission in the 1960s and 1970s. The ORC owns this infrastructure inside its boundary on the right bank of the lower portion of the Waitaki River. Environment Canterbury manages the infrastructure as part of their overall management of the Lower Waitaki River Control Scheme, which is mostly in the Canterbury region. A series of dams has been built to moderate river flows, starting with the Waitaki Dam in the 1920s and 1930s.

Three floodways help to convey flows from the foothills across low-lying farmland to the Waitaki River. These are managed separately from the scheme.