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Stormwater - What we're doing

Napier City Council has committed to spending $20.6 million on stormwater improvements in the next ten years.

What is Council doing about stormwater?

Napier City Council has committed to spending $20.6 million on stormwater improvements in the next ten years. This, if combined with us all working together to look after our water, will improve the water quality of our estuary, so that it can remain one of the most significant cultural, environmental, ecological, and recreational sites on the East Coast of New Zealand.

The urban stormwater system is being continually upgraded. The current design standard requires the system to be designed to cater for the type of storm the city might expect to experience once in every 10 years in such a way that limits surface ponding. Increasing infill and greenfield developments have added more buildings, driveways, roads and sealed surfaces within the city boundaries, resulting in greater volumes of water running off the hard, impermeable surfaces and putting pressure on the existing stormwater and pumping systems. Up until 1996, the system was based upon a two year return period, meaning the city had a 50 per cent chance of stormwater ponding in the streets each year. There is now about a 10 per cent chance of similar ponding in any one year, known as a 10 year return standard.

It is a huge and very expensive task that will take decades to increase the stormwater system's capacity from the old design standard to the new design standard. The Council has been allocating funding for this purpose ever since the new standard was introduced.

During floods, priority is given to pump station operations, in particular cleaning the screens free of weed to allow the pumps to operate to their peak capacity.

Read further details about our projects

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