Managing stormwater

Our standards and commitments

Although our stormwater system meets national standards, it is unfortunately true that we can’t always beat the weather. There will be times when our stormwater system will have insufficient capacity and flooding will occur.

Here’s what you can expect of us when it comes to your stormwater disposal.

Service availability

• The stormwater service to your property will be available at least 99.9% of the time
• Interruptions to the stormwater service to individual properties will not exceed 24 hours at any one time

 Our environmental commitment

100% compliance with Resource Management Act consent conditions.

Commitment to our customers

• We’ll notify all property owners or occupiers at least 24 hours before starting planned maintenance or upgrades that may affect them.
• We’ll give advance notice to property owners or occupiers before urgent work is carried out on private property, and we will also give written notification of the work.
• Employees and contractors of Hutt City Council and Capacity will carry identification. They must show you this if they need to enter your property.
• We’ll reinstate any private property disturbed by us or our contractors. This will be done to a standard as close as practical to that existing before the work was carried out.
• We’ll help you to locate public or private stormwater pipelines within your property.

 Our timeframes

• We’ll respond to urgent work requirements within an hour. Urgent work is the non-availability of wastewater service, and significant health, safety and/or environmental risk) 
• We’ll respond to non-urgent work requirements within 24 hours. Non-urgent work is nuisance or partial disruption to stormwater service.
• We’ll respond to routine work requirements and enquiries within five working days. 

Who's responsible for drains?

You own and are responsible for all drains, pipe work and plumbing which service your property and which are upstream of the point of service.

Where can I find the ‘point of service’?

Our point of service for stormwater services is the junction connection on the council main (pipeline). Where a property is serviced by a pipeline draining to the road kerb, the point of service is the road kerb.

We’re responsible for maintaining the stormwater system up to and including the point of service.

Protecting your property and the environment

There are a few simple steps you can take to protect your stormwater system, help minimise future costs to ratepayers and look after the environment.

It’s extremely important that you don’t use stormwater drains to dispose of any foreign matter – this will pollute our waterways.

If you’re not sure how to get rid of certain materials (e.g. paint or oil) contact us for advice. 

Here's how you can help protect your stormwater system:

• Take reasonable care to avoid damaging public stormwater pipes which pass through your property. Make sure we can get quick and clear access to these pipes in case we need to repair them.
• Don't plant any trees or shrubs on your property within 1.5 metres of buried stormwater pipelines.
• Don't discharge your rain water straight into the wastewater system - we provide separate systems for stormwater disposal. When stormwater flows into our wastewater system it can quickly become overloaded. This can lead to sewage overflows.
• Keep your stormwater drainage system in good condition and make sure it meets the New Zealand Building Code. This will minimise the likelihood of health risks to anyone using your property.
• Don't discharge motor oil, fuels, solvents or other toxic substances into the stormwater system.

Stormwater fees and charges

Look up our stormwater fees and charges page.