Napier City Council seeks stricter controls over stormwater system

A stormwater drain in Napier, which leads out to Pandora Pond. Photo / Warren Buckland

Napier City Council is looking to tighten its rules around stormwater, in an attempt to improve the health of Ahuriri Estuary.

A draft bylaw will be presented council's regulatory committee at a meeting on Tuesday.

The paper being presented to the committee states the current bylaw, which has been in place since 2012, means sites which are not deemed "high risk" do not have to provide a pollution prevention plan to council.

"It is sometimes bakeries and other seemingly innocuous activities [typically not defined as high risk sites] that are the worst offenders for discharging contaminants into the stormwater network," the paper states.

"Council requires greater control to be able to manage these discharges from all sites, not just those deemed high risk."

Council also struggles to recover costs for pollution control work.

"If high risk sites do not have a plan, or a site is deemed low risk, council is unable to recover costs."

The paper states the new bylaw will have a significant impact on individuals and companies which have historically been complacent when it comes to discharging contaminants.

If approved by the regulatory committee, the new bylaw will be presented to council at a meeting on August 20, to be approved for public consultation.

This will include specific consultation with property owners in the industrial zone, Hawke's Bay regional and Hastings district councils, iwi authorities and mana whenua groups, the Department of Conservation, Forest & Bird and the Ahuriri Protection Society.

The planned bylaw changes come weeks after a $50,000 public education campaign was launched by Napier City Council and Hawke's Bay Regional Council to encourage residents, including industry, to think about how their actions impact the estuary.