‘We just need some dry weather’ — Gisborne District Council water manager

Gisborne District Council is working hard to address stormwater issues which in turn affect sewage outflows. File picture

The council’s special programme for addressing stormwater issues across the city is ploughing on, but those in charge say some good weather would be appreciated. 

Beginning in 2006, DrainWise was established with an important function of working alongside property owners to fix problems with wastewater and stormwater drains.

It followed the realisation that stormwater issues on private properties were contributing to sewage overflows during heavy rain events.

A report prepared for the council’s wastewater management meeting on Wednesday showed 3400 properties had been inspected by the programme and 1400 gully traps repaired.

That included 970 properties inspected between July and early November alone.

Since the most recent update on the programme — covering the year ended June 2023, released late last month — there had been more issues.

“It’s kind of a testament to I think what the East Coast is going through of late, that just in that short period we had two rain events that forced the opening of the valves,” council water manager Leo Kelso said.

The council most recently opened the city’s emergency discharge valves in late November following heavy rain, causing raw sewage to flow into the rivers.

After they were closed, a five day health warning was put in place preventing people from swimming in the city’s rivers or beaches, or eating shellfish.

There had been some wins along the way, however.

In the period between July and November, 255 gully traps were repaired and 15 downpipes removed and connected to approved outlets.

Kelso said that for every downpipe corrected, the equivalent of 50 households worth of normal wastewater was prevented from causing problems.

But a pause to the rain events which had plagued the region of late would also go a long way.

“We just need some dry weather,” he said.

The DrainWise programme consists of network upgrades and renewals, stormwater extensions, property inspections, educating the public and free repairs on minor issues with gully traps.