Why water hangs around after rain
Auckland Emergency Management's Whau plan says the board area is mostly low-lying and about 93% developed for urban and industrial use. With so much hard surface, floodwater can't easily soak into the ground, so it has to go through the stormwater system and can take longer to recede.
It lists Manawa Wetland, Crown Lynn Place and the land around them, plus the Avondale Stream catchment, among the coastal areas most vulnerable to flooding, erosion, inundation and sea level rise.
New Lynn, in brief
Some of the mains are new
Watercare named Kelston and New Lynn the first suburbs in its watermain renewals in 2022, with new polyethylene pipes in Parker Ave and Armstrong Place. It gives them a design life of around 100 years.
A bigger local pump station
Watercare's upgraded New Lynn Pump Station, beside the Manawa Wetland Reserve, lets it pump more water into the local network and on to the western reservoirs.
Half the homes not owner-occupied
At the 2023 Census, 50% of New Lynn households didn't own their home or hold it in a trust (New Zealand 34%). Across the Whau board, 42.7% of households paid rent and 27.8% of homes were joined dwellings.
Plenty under construction
Stats NZ counted 213 dwellings under construction in New Lynn at the 2023 Census, against 39 in 2018.
Stormwater or sewage: who to ring
| Whose it is | Who to ring | |
|---|---|---|
| Rain pooling on your section | Normally the owner's, Watercare says. | A plumber or drainlayer. |
| Blocked council drain, flooded road or reserve | Auckland Council's public stormwater. | Auckland Council, 09 301 0101. |
| Sewage overflow or blocked wastewater drain | Watercare's if its pipe is at fault, yours if the private drain is. | Watercare first, (09) 442 2222, option 1. |
| Leak between the meter and the house | Yours. | A plumber. In the meter or street side: Watercare. |
Elsewhere on PlumbMatch
Stormwater drains, Auckland drainlayers, blocked drains, leak detection, and the Avondale, Titirangi and West Auckland pages.
What we would do
Never connect a downpipe or yard drain into the sewer to get rid of surface water: Watercare's customer contract forbids unauthorised stormwater going into its wastewater network. If rain keeps ponding against the house, have a New Lynn drainlayer look at where your stormwater actually goes before the next big storm.