The system, from Hydro Response in Christchurch, was brought down to the camp after an emergency call by Waitaki civil defence on Monday.
Once the system was in place, water in the camp could be pumped out and held at bay.
Waitaki emergency services manager Chris Raine was aware the system was available overseas, but did not realise it was in New Zealand until he phoned national civil defence headquarters, which directed him to the Christchurch company.
The Christchurch company lent the system at no charge and it will stay in place until the river drops.
Mr Raine was evaluating the system and said he would produce a report for the Waitaki District Council on whether it should buy a system for itself.
Water rose next to the village on Monday afternoon as Meridian Energy released water from its overfull hydro storage lakes, the flow reaching a maximum of 1554cumecs yesterday - the highest flow since December 1995.
Water seeped from the river into the low-lying paddock on the northern boundary of the camp, then into the camp.
Mr Raine said it was lapping almost at the floor of one house.
Flood protection gear arrived at the camp about 8pm on Monday and was put in place in about 3 hours by 12 volunteers from the Waitaki rural fire party.
The volunteers then pumped water out of the camp until 2am.
Two residents in the village yesterday said flooding extended from the boundary to the camp entrance, but did not affect houses.
Some electrical equipment stored in a garage was water-damaged.
They said once the protection system and bags were in place, the water was quickly drained by pumps.
With the river falling, the situation was easing.
Yesterday afternoon, the river at Kurow had dropped to 1330cumecs, although Meridian still needed to pass water through its system from the rain which fell at Mt Cook since Friday.
Meridian spokeswoman Claire Shaw yesterday said Meridian would be working to reduce the flows over the next few days, but it might not be noticeable until the weekend.
"We are still trying to manage the in-flows into the headwaters from the weekend," she said.
Lakes Pukaki and Tekapo had continued to rise right until Tuesday and only started to show signs of reaching a plateau yesterday.
With both lakes still above their maximum operating ranges, Tekapo was spilling 100cumecs and Pukaki 400cumecs.
About 800cumecs was being spilled over the Waitaki dam, with the rest going through the powerhouse to generate electricity.
