Know your drains
There are two types drains:
Inside drains from your toilet, bath, shower, sinks and washing machine connect to sewer pipes that send wastewater to the wastewater treatment plant.
Outside drains from roofs, gutters, driveways, roads and other sealed surfaces connect to pipes that take untreated stormwater directly to our streams, Lake Pupuke and beaches.
Anything tipped, washed or accidentally spilled into an outside drain will end up in our streams, lake and on our beaches – and then we swim and fish in it!
What is stormwater and where does it go?
Stormwater is rainwater that runs off hard sealed surfaces (eg. buildings, roads, car parks and driveways), which then flows into the nearest outside drain. Stormwater is not treated. Once it enters an outside drain the stormwater system takes it directly to a nearby stream, beach or Lake Pupuke.
Ideally stormwater would be free of pollution but unfortunately it becomes contaminated when it picks up pollutants or rubbish and washes them untreated into the nearest outside drain.
This is one of the reasons we conduct water quality testing of our recreational water areas during the summer, to ensure the water quality is safe for swimming.
Often our outside (stormwater) drains are used for the wrong thing. People tip paint, oil or other wastes into the stormwater system (outside drains) without realising that they will not be treated and will discharge straight into a stream, beach or Lake Pupuke. These discharges of oil, paint, concrete and other contaminants have a devastating effect on our environment.
Remember, outside drains only drain rain. Outside drains are exclusively for the draining of clean rainwater run-off.
What is wastewater and where does it go?
Wastewater comes from inside drains, such as sinks, baths, toilets, showers, kitchens and laundries. It is composed of 99.9 per cent used water, while the other 0.1 per cent consists of organic matter such as human waste and food scraps, detergents, oil and grease, traces of heavy metals, debris, nutrients, bacteria and viruses, and lots of other things too.
All our wastes from inside drains go to the wastewater treatment plant where the water is processed and safely discharged out to sea.
Useful links
Wastewater
Pollution prevention