Low impact stormwater charge for business properties

You can apply if you:

• Pay us a stormwater charge for your property.
• Stop most of the stormwater leaving your property.
• Store and re-use most of the stormwater on your property.
• Appropriately manage the land surrounding your home to aid infiltration of rainwater into the soil and ensure sediment and other water pollutants do not leave your property.

You can't apply if you:

• Don't pay us a stormwater charge for your property.
• Are a business property less than 1000 m², as you are already being charged the same as a low impact customer.

You must capture and reuse or infiltrate most of the stormwater that lands on the hard surfaces of your property.

There are many ways you can do this. Some examples include installing:

• A rainwater tank that collects all your roof water and connecting it to your toilets, washing facilities if available, outdoor system and/or any other process associated with your business. The tank must be sized greater than that required to meet BASIX. If a suitably large tank cannot be installed then a combination of tank and infiltration system¹/dam could be installed to collect and reuse/infiltrate the stormwater off all roof areas.
• An infiltration system that stops stormwater leaving your property from other hard surface areas like driveways or additional flows from your roof that aren’t captured by your tank.
• Appropriate controls for other hard surface areas like driveways and paths. This may include the grading of hard surfaces into raingardens, garden beds or onto lawn areas or the use of permeable paving.

¹ An infiltration system is an underground stormwater system that is designed to capture stormwater runoff and allows it to be absorbed (infiltrate) out of the system and into the adjoining soil.

You must also ensure that the land surrounding any buildings is appropriately managed such that rainwater can infiltrate into the soil and that sediment or other water pollutants do not leave your property.

There are many ways you can do this. Some examples include:

• Plant suitable vegetation on your property to hold sediment in place and ensure soil is not exposed. This may include showing that your land is natural healthy bushland (with no erosion gully lines), is covered in a native grass species, has appropriate garden beds with shrubs / trees or has been turfed and is regularly maintained.
• Do not stockpile grass clippings, sediment, bulk chemicals or rubbish on your property. If you do stockpile chemicals they must be appropriately stored to ensure that any spills are contained in an appropriate bund.

For large and very large business properties that are assessed as low impact we may require a compliance report to be provided periodically to show that the rainwater tank/infiltration system/dam is still fully functional and is being maintained as required. You must also reaffirm that the remaining land is being appropriately managed and there has been no substantial changes to the property.

Below is a list of information that should be provided when submitting your application. Please have this information available to attach to your application, noting that photos and reports must be in a digital format.

• For a rainwater tank you must provide evidence in the form of a plumbers report/receipt showing tank size, installation details and all the end uses e.g. toilets etc. that are plumbed into the tank. Detailed information is critical as recent investigations by Hunter Water have shown that many rainwater tanks are not working properly or are not plumbed in correctly and this will impact whether or not a property is low impact.
• For an infiltration system you must provide evidence in the form of a plumbers report/receipt showing the infiltration system purchase, installation and what area is connected to this facility. If a dam has been constructed then a report stating the size and what it is connected to needs to be provided.
• As part of a redevelopment or new property development a stormwater management plan may have been prepared and this can be provided.
• If other appropriate stormwater controls have been used at the property then photos and a hand drawn plan to show where stormwater is directed would be useful. Installation/receipt details for any rain gardens should be supplied. If permeable paving is used then a receipt for pavers and a series of photos showing the driveway or path should be supplied.
• To assess your properties ability to use the stormwater captured you should provide a report on the water demand for the property.
• Details need to be provided on how the tank, infiltration system, dam, raingarden are operated and maintained ongoing.
• You need to present photos of your property showing the vegetation and the slope of your land. Photos showing the large expanses of the property need to be included as well as some more close up photos to ensure the property can be seen in full context. For properties that have mostly natural bushland an assessment will still need to be carried out to ensure that the natural bushland is in good condition. Photos along any natural creek line need to be provided.
• You need to declare that you will not stockpile inappropriate items on your property. If you stockpile chemicals then you need to declare that you have appropriate bunding to contain any spills.