Scary Facts about Stormwater Pollution
in the Auckland Region

- About 500,000 litres of detergent from people washing their cars on roads and driveways ends up in the harbour every year, mixed with up to 250 million litres of water

- About 80,000 kg of vehicle grit containing heavy metals and other pollutants is also washed down stormwater drains from people washing their cars, every year

- An estimated 25,000,000 cigarette butts end up in Auckland’s harbours every year

- About 1,000 native freshwater fish in the region are killed every year from stormwater pollution in streams

- Last year, 10 city streams were poisoned by stormwater pollution. This means a flush of pollution has killed most insects, fish or birds in the stream – and they will take some time to recover

- Sewage contamination of stormwater systems results in up to 300,000 cubic metres of dilute sewage on our beaches and in our harbours each year. Sewage overflows happen up to 56 times a year in the same place in some areas

- About 9 million litres of lubrication oil is unaccounted for each year in the Auckland region – much of this ends up washing down stormwater drains into the streams and sea

- About 1000 hectares of earthworks loses about 66,000 tonnes of sediment each year in the Auckland region. Land under construction can produce 2000 times the amount of sediment than from forested land. Sediment is the single most significant contaminant of our stream, lakes and coastal waters, mainly because of the amount of development going on around the region. Sediment smothers stream animals and builds up in harbours

ENDS

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