Drains on a low, coastal strip
The Ōrākei local board's emergency plan names coastal inundation and tsunami as risks in its beachfront settlements, St Heliers among them, and Auckland's climate plan has identified increased inundation risk on the St Heliers beachfront.
Across Auckland, most flooding is flash flooding, so Auckland Emergency Management advises clearing drains, gutters and downpipes before heavy rain. Watercare wants gully traps raised off the ground and grated, which keeps rainwater out of the sewer. If your gully trap sits low or has lost its grate, that is a quick job for a plumber or drainlayer.
St Heliers specifics
Gas heating in a quarter of homes
At the 2023 Census, 25.4% of St Heliers dwellings used a fixed gas heater as a main heat source, against 9.5% across New Zealand.
Two character areas
The Unitary Plan lists Isthmus B St Heliers and Isthmus C St Heliers as residential special character areas. A rainwater tank is a permitted activity there; adding to or altering the outside of a building needs resource consent.
Owners and family trusts
Of 4,389 occupied homes, 47.8% of households owned theirs and 27.4% held it in a family trust (New Zealand: 11.1%). Only 24.8% did not own their home.
Mostly houses, some units
Across the Ōrākei board area, 66.0% of occupied dwellings were separate houses and 34.0% joined dwellings in 2023.
Rainwater tanks and the mains
A tank for the garden is simple. Plumbing tank water into toilets or the laundry on a house that also has town water is a job for an authorised plumber, who will talk you through backflow protection. Auckland Council oversees testing of backflow devices inside a property; if Watercare has fitted one at your boundary, you maintain it and have it tested every year.
The rest of Watercare's rules apply as anywhere in Auckland: your pipes start at the meter outlet, and its wastewater pipe ends at the joint with your drain or its manhole.
Nearby: Remuera, Ellerslie and East Auckland. Jobs: gasfitting, blocked drains, drainlayers and hot water cylinders.
What we would do
If your section is near the beachfront, look at the gully trap and outside drains this month, before the winter storms: a raised, grated trap and clear drains are simple protection. If you are adding a rainwater tank to a character villa, the tank is permitted, but get a plumber to plan any connection to the house. Gas heater playing up? That is a gasfitter, not a handyman. We can match each of those jobs with an authorised St Heliers specialist.