Please note that the Engineering Code of Practice is currently being modified.  Once modifications are complete, it will be available online.


The short term focus for the stormwater & drainage activity is to reduce the risk of flooding within the urban areas of Wairoa and Tuai by maintaining piped and open drains.

Whilst drains protect property from flooding increasingly, communities are becoming concerned about the quality of the water in our streams, rivers, lakes and oceans.

What is Stormwater?
Stormwater is natural water.  It is essentially rain that runs over the ground on its way to the sea.  When rain falls on buildings, car parks, roads, driveways and gardens, if it doesn’t soak into the ground, it follows its natural flow path downhill until it reaches a watercourse or is collect by a pipe system.

Where there is development, runoff from properties and roads flows into stormwater systems.  The greater the level of development in a catchment, the greater the level of impervious surfaces, (e.g. roofs, driveways, paths etc) and the greater the conversion of rainfall into runoff. 

How does the Council deal with Stormwater?
Towns have a need to control stormwater flow to prevent flooding to properties. Stormwater systems include watercourses, open channels, and other structures that reticulate stormwater to its final discharge point.  Because public stormwater systems are designed to take stormwater away, inevitably sediment, debris or waste is collected at the same time.

Council recognises this, and will in time be implementing a variety of policies, practices and procedures designed to handle stormwater and runoff so that we protect our assets but do not make water quality worse in the process.

Under the Resource Management Act 1991, District Councils have the duty to manage land use in a way that avoids, remedies or mitigates adverse environmental effects.

For more information relating to Stormwater, you can contact Bill Lewis at Wairoa District Council on (06) 838 7309.

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Application to connect to Public Stormwater System