I cant believe how PC this country is becoming! We are building a carport and the last hurdle is getting a soakhole dug for the stormwater, apparently our council will not allow them because of landslides, despite us not being near any hill!
Apparently we can get a soakhole dug with an engineers report to sign it off, so the only other option is to dig a trench to the road and have the storm water run down to the kerbside!
Both options are costly, but we are talking even more money to det a trench dug to lay the pipe down to the road, something the council wont let us do because of H&S by the road side, so an approved council contractor has to pay the council for traffic management services at a cost of over $900!
We are on a quiet residential street and all i expect is they will come and place a couple of road cones by the kerb, this is absolutely ridiculous, and when you think of it, soakhole or not, all that rain water would be draining into the ground anyway!
Looks like paying $2K for an engineer to sign off a soakhole will be the cheaper option.
I cant honestly believe we are living in such a PC country, its almost laughable, since there is really no work being done on the road for a drain, other than cutting out about 20cm of kerb!
Has anyone else had similar issues getting a soakhole?
We never had any issue 20 years ago, we just went ahead and dug them!
trad,
Oct 27, 7:29pm
Why not just discharge to the surface of the ground? Or connect it to the house stormwater discharge system?
macman26,
Oct 27, 7:29pm
Put a garage in and they wanted a soak well. Pointed out the water table during winter is 12" down. Also right now the rain falls on the ground, runs in the paddock and forms a lake. Now it will fall on the roof, go on the ground, runs in the paddock and form a lake. No can't have that so had to put in a rain water tank. I pointed out the overflow will do the same. That's ok I was told. Then was told we needed a fence for privacy. I asked from the cows or the horses. We have no neighbours I pointed out. But we plan for the future I was told. Someone might built a house next door in 50years time. Yup gone mad.
cleggyboy,
Oct 27, 7:33pm
One of the soak holes for my house was blocked and clogged up, not bad for 65 years, so got my mate to help dig it up relay and put in new metal all done, stuff the council.
3ofeach,
Oct 27, 7:50pm
Would it be cheaper, or save money in the long run to collect the rainwater in a tank for garden use instead of having it drain anywhere?
nzoomed,
Oct 27, 11:27pm
i.e an existing soakhole? Yes i thought of that, i dont know if the council will allow this, i will check.
nzoomed,
Oct 27, 11:28pm
Yes, that is a brilliant idea!
tui93,
Oct 27, 11:29pm
And once the tank is full, where do you think it might run then?
daryl14,
Oct 28, 12:08am
Why do you need consent for a car port? It should be classed as a removable structure. You messed up big time when you involved the council on this one, sorry.
kateley,
Oct 28, 12:17am
I recently had a carport constructed, and got a water tank to collect the runoff, works a treat and saves money on the water bill, too
nzoomed,
Oct 28, 12:51am
Really? Is this nationwide? I did not know this, kiwispan are building it, they were taking care of all the council related matters.
clangie,
Oct 28, 2:19am
find ya closest downpipe and tee into that, I did with mine and the council doesn't know, also teed 2 sumps and a channel drain in aswell
russ18,
Oct 28, 11:54am
Yes, managing your storm water can be one of those nasty little fishhooks if you missed or misunderstood what was required. Building an extension I confirmed verbally with council we could deposit on the ground just like all the existing down pipes. Reality was we had to get storm water to the footpath gutter which was about 1.5 metres higher than our land, council suggested a large buried tank and pump, house was only 300 mm from side boundary so I rebuilt the rickety fence and ran the storm water along that out to the footpath.
spiritofgonzo,
Oct 28, 12:06pm
I think you're dreaming there.
clangie,
Oct 28, 12:14pm
in Marlborough you don't need a consent for a carport as long as its not bigger than 20 square metres, you can also close in 3 sides and its still classed as a carport, just has to be built to current building codes
daryl14,
Oct 28, 1:49pm
Of course they are taking care of the consent, and they're charging you a fee to do it. Oh and of course you will need a soak hole sir. Hmm lets see if theres any more cost we can add to this job. getting the picture?
Do you actually know what the council requirements are? If you don't you need to school yourself up on it.
kevymtnz,
Oct 28, 2:47pm
think ya being screwed over small trench to the road is the better option contact ya local Councillor
nzoomed,
Oct 28, 3:00pm
Ive realised its because of the size of the carport why its outside the "limits" of what qualifies as a "removable" structure.
Anyway, we have actually been dealing with the council alot, all they have done is send the plans to the council pretty much.
The council told us that its a requirement for consent to have the stormwater drained off the property, although they did say that a soak hole could be used if an engineer can prove its "safe"
Honestly i did not even think the council would have looked at the soakhole, i just thought we would just naturally dig one ourselves.
It seems they have got pretty tough on this since the 2005 floods and land slides that the council decided to blame on soakholes.
nzoomed,
Oct 28, 3:01pm
That is such BS! A pump? Seriously?
Things are really getting stupid nowdays.
daryl14,
Oct 28, 3:29pm
Weird, In Hamilton the council prefers you put in Soak holes rather than run storm straight into the over burdened stormwater system, the reasons given that the city system cannot cope with large amounts of rain so soaking it and releasing it slowly into the ground is better for them. Often get overflowing sewerage and stormwater in parts of Hamilton city.
They should allow you to drain into an existing soak hole, or whatever else is existing at your place, because that rain is going to end up there if the carport doesn't get built anyway. That is the angle that you need to use.
tui93,
Oct 28, 7:10pm
I did think it odd that lots of comments encourage running the runoff into the stormwater. You'd think the council would rather not have all the extra rainwater to discharge ( as said above). Soak pits would be better surely.
nzoomed,
Oct 28, 9:11pm
Yes i completley agree, why the council dont see it this way ill never know.
bluefrog2,
Oct 29, 4:30am
I had to replace a 50 year old soak pit with a sump and pump. I think part of the concern about soak pits is that the climate people are predicting heavier downpours, and soak pits may not cope with that as well as in the past.
nzoomed,
Aug 16, 6:50am
Well if a soak pit is not going to work, then i doubt the ground would be able to handle that much rainwater either!
Anyway, as others have mentioned, some councils dont like the idea of draining into the street, all this extra storm water is just going to put extra pressure on the storm water network, which in turn will cause flooding in heavy rain if every thing goes this way.
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