Low impact stormwater charge for residential properties
The Low Impact Stormwater Charge is for customers who go above and beyond to manage the stormwater on their property to ensure any runoff has a low impact on our stormwater infrastructure.
In considering whether a residential property is low impact, both the building/s on the property and any surrounding land must be assessed. Appropriate measures need to be in place for both areas because each component can have an impact on the quantity and quality of stormwater leaving the property. If you are assessed as being low impact then the revised charge will apply from your next bill and no retrospective claims can be made.
What you need to know
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Who can apply?
You can apply if you:
- Pay Hunter Water 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.
If your house was built under the Building and Sustainability Index (BASIX), you can apply if you've added extra systems to stop stormwater leaving your property. A standard BASIX home doesn't store and use enough stormwater to be eligible.
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Who can't apply?
You can't apply if you:
- Don't pay Hunter Water a stormwater charge for your property.
- Live in a strata unit, as you are already being charged the discounted rate.
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How do you qualify?
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 machine and outdoor watering system as a minimum. The tank must be sized greater than that required to meet BASIX. A tank size greater than 15,000 litres will be more likely to meet the criteria and tanks smaller than 10,000 litres will be least likely to meet the criteria. If a suitably large tank cannot be installed then a combination of tank and infiltration system1 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 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 your home is appropriately managed such 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 covered in 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.
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Evidence you need to provide to us
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 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.
- 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. 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 dwellings ability to use the stormwater captured you should provide the number of connected end uses for the rainwater tank and the number of people that live at the property on an ongoing basis.
- You need to provide photos of the front and back yards of your property to show the vegetation and the slope of your land. Photos showing the complete yard need to be included as well as some more close up photos to ensure the yard can be seen in full context.
- You need to declare that you will not stockpile inappropriate items on your property.