Residents who have sewage on their properties should ring 371-1313 and Christchurch City Council staff will clean it up. Only around 40 properties have had sewage backing up.

"The sewage has spilled out due to blockages or overloads in the system and the ten year rain," says Mike Bourke, the City’s wastewater manager. "We’re sorry for all those residents who have sewage on their land but we’re telling residents that their Council is committed to cleaning up."

This is less than the great snow of 1992 when over 200 properties had the same problem and Mike Bourke is attributing the lower back up rate to the Council’s House to House survey which is removing stormwater from the sewerage system. "In the last six years we have visited nearly 70 percent of all properties and this is making a significant difference in the flow through the City’s sewerage system in periods of heavy rain."

HOTLINE 371-1313