Wednesday 20 May 2015

Council reminds residents to check sewer pipes

Christchurch City Council is urging people to get underground pipes checked for damage before earthquake repairs are done.

Infrastructure and Environment Committee Chairman Phil Clearwater says it is important that all property owners make sure any damaged sewer pipes are repaired.

"Clearly it makes sense to investigate if you need to do repairs before relaying driveways or paths. Having the repairs done will reduce the impact on the public network and remove the potential for blockages that may result in sewer overflows on the properties."

"As this is damage on private property the cost of repairs may be covered by insurance or EQC, especially if the damage is related to the earthquakes. Obviously the more time that passes, the harder it is to link the cause of the damage to the earthquakes."

Acting Unit Manager City Water and Waste Tim Joyce says that after heavy rain, sewer flows arriving at the Christchurch Treatment Plant can be up to 60 per cent greater than before the 2011 earthquakes.

"Although good progress is being made to repair the public network, 30 per cent of pipes connected to the network are in private ownership. In areas where SCIRT is repairing public sewers, information about the project is shared with nearby residents through letterbox notices, conversations and other updates."

Mr Joyce says there have been reports from drainlayers of instances where they are having to cut in to recently re-laid driveways to do repairs on pipes. This could have been avoided if pipes were checked before the driveway work was done.

Pipes can generally be checked by using a camera — they don't need to be dug up — and property owners should use a registered drainlayer for the check and any repairs.

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