Stormwater and wastewater

Stormwater and wastewater network resource consents

Background | WaterWays | WaterWays online form

Introduction

Auckland City Council and Metrowater own and operate the public stormwater and wastewater networks within Auckland city. These drainage networks are an essential part of our urban lifestyle - they protect the health and safety of the city's residents, ratepayers and visitors by collecting stormwater and wastewater and safely disposing of it away from houses, buildings and roads. Click here to find out more about stormwater.

Under the Resource Management Act, Auckland City and Metrowater are required to renew their resource consents (currently existing use rights) for discharges from these networks and elements of the infrastructure itself. In March 2001, Auckland City and Metrowater lodged joint resource consent applications for the ongoing development and operation of the city's drainage network. Processing of the applications was deferred pending the results of further research and consultation.

Researching the drainage network

Given the extensive nature of the city's drainage network, Auckland City and Metrowater initiated the Integrated Catchment Study (ICS) to research the performance of the drainage network and its effects on the environment, and to ensure that comprehensive, up-to-date information was available to support our resource consent applications.

The ICS programme is nearing completion and information from this programme is assisting in establishing the network performance and environmental outcomes that we would like to achieve in the future and how much this will cost. We will be consulting with you on this issue as part of Auckland City's draft long-term council community plan process, the purpose of which is to consult with you to establish the wider outcomes (including drainage) that the council is seeking to achieve.

Water and the city

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Auckland City's Draft Long-term Plan 2006-2016

Auckland City's Draft Long-term Plan 2006-2016

Auckland City is consulting on its draft long-term council community plan from 19 April 2006 to 19 May 2006. The draft plan includes options for improving the performance of the city's stormwater and wastewater networks. We will ask you for your input on the different options for improving our networks, the level of service and environmental outcomes they deliver and how much you think should be spent on the networks.

Once the outcomes and milestones have been set through the plan's consultation and submission process, these will set the strategic direction for our network resource consent applications. Once our resource consents are granted, Auckland City and Metrowater will work towards achieving these outcomes.

The drainage issues facing Auckland city are complex and expensive to solve. The first step is understanding the issues and challenges that we are dealing with. The key  drainage issues are summarised in a series of information brochures called WaterWays. Please complete the online form to subscribe to WaterWays so that you can learn about the drainage issues facing the city and play your part in setting the direction for the future.