Waikino - waipara

Wastewater - sewage

Wastewater is any water that has been used.  It's the used water and waste from your home's kitchen, laundry, bathroom and toilet; any commercial property and industry. Wastewater is commonly referred to as sewage.

We're responsible for 223km of public sewage pipes, this includes the lateral pipe to your property boundary.

Problems during heavy rain?

During heavy rain your gully trap or toilet level may rise. This may happen because the sewer system is overloaded with stormwater from illegal connections or it's getting in from other sources.

If you experience flooding or overflow issues on your property when it's raining, please contact us.

Try not to add to the problem until the levels drop.  Avoid unnecessary use - don't flush the toilet or put the dishwasher on, or use the bath or laundry.

Tell us about flooding issues on your property. This will help us to know where and what the issues are. Fill in our online form

For information on reducing overflows see our DrainWise webpage

Blocked drain on your property?

A blocked drain or any leaks on your property is your responsibility to fix. You need to contact your drainlayer to find the problem.

To locate your wastewater pipe, check our online property maps.

If you notice a leak on public property such as a footpath, road or park or you can smell a problem on neighbour's property, please contact us as soon as possible.

Downpipes need to connect to a stormwater outlet not the gully trap

Although our wastewater system has been designed to cope with 4 times the average flow, illegal stormwater connections into the system can cause the system to become overloaded during heavy rain.

We encourage you to tell us about any illegal stormwater connections into the wastewater system. Contact our customer service team anonymously.

A new wastewater connection

A connection to wastewater is included with building consent to build a new house, or subdivision consent granted for properties in the city.

If approval for the subdivision or resource consent has not been granted, you need to talk to our duty planner.

More information about wastewater

How big is the wastewater network?

Our city's wastewater network caters for a population of  31,660. We have about 14,750 connections from homes and businesses.

The discharge volume per day is around 13,000 cubic metres including industrial.

The network consists of:
  • 223km of mains
  • 2806 manholes
  • 40 pump stations
  • 1 treatment plant