COUNCIL staff are doing a house-by-house inspection of Te Kūiti’s residential stormwater and wastewater networks.
Waitomo District Council water services staff will be inspecting gully traps and stormwater downpipes, with the intention of keeping stormwater out of the wastewater system.
Infrastructure services general manager Shyamal Ram said the council recognised the need to build more resilience in the stormwater and wastewater network, as cyclones and heavy rain events were becoming more frequent.
“The wastewater network is only designed for wastewater discharges. Stormwater ending up in the wastewater system overloads the network leading to wastewater overflows,” Shyamal said.
“During heavy rain events, wastewater can overflow and get into our waterways, which has a detrimental effect on our environment.
“It also overwhelms our wastewater system and can increase up to 10 times more than the average daily flow, which then causes overflows. One non-compliant roof downpipe connected to the wastewater equates to 40 dwellings.
“This increases the cost associated with wastewater pumping and treatment and can lead to the contamination of private properties and the environment.”
