How Auckland Council Are Using Stormwater Interventions to Meet Environmental Requirements

New Zealand needs to maintain and improve its water quality in a climate of increasing pressures from economic and population growth. While this puts pressure on the stormwater industry, it allows opportunities for innovation to help achieve environmental benefits and meet the requirements of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM).

In line with the overarching theme of this conference Wai Ora – Rising to the Challenge, this report aims to demonstrate the significant role interventions can play in ensuring that water quality improves under the pressures of urban and agricultural growth.

Auckland Council is using a range of tools within stormwater management to maintain and improve water quality as required by the NPS-FM. This paper provides an overview of structural and non-structural interventions used in Auckland. By identifying and ultimately implementing the most appropriate and efficient intervention options we will be actively working towards improving water quality in the Auckland region, as required by the NPS-FM.

The paper also provides recommendations for how further work should be focused to help deliver the NPS-FM requirements. Different organisations are using interventions to target contaminants throughout New Zealand. The sharing of lessons learned from these interventions and data on how effective they are at contaminant removal should be a focus for all interested parties.