Gosford City Council waives development application and inspection fees for rainwater tanks   

Gosford City Council last night voted in favour of waiving development application and inspection fees for the installation of rainwater tanks until further notice to encourage more residents to use rainwater as an alternative to the town water supply.

'Rainwater tanks are a great way of helping people reduce how much town water they use if they're connected to the toilet and laundry,' said Gosford City Council Mayor, Laurie Maher. 'Where that's not possible, they give people the opportunity to use the water externally to water their garden, top up swimming pools and so forth.

'Now that we've increased the flexibility of how rainwater can be used and the rebates people receive so that some of the water from internally connected tanks can be used outside, there're even more of an incentive for people to install one.

'That said, just because you install a rainwater tank doesn’t mean that you should stop using water more efficiently. The water that's collected in the tank is still a precious resource and given the severity of this current drought, it's a resource that needs to be used wisely,' he said.

'The other important thing to note is that the installation of rainwater tanks is a great way for all of us to help reduce demand for town water but it's not going to generate sufficient additional water to ease the current water situation.

'That's why it's not a viable solution for the Councils to provide all households with a free rainwater tank. This approach would cost millions of dollars to implement to generate around 20 million litres a day of additional water for non-drinking purposes.  In contrast, the new Hunter water link that's now just weeks away from completion will generate the same amount of drinking water for an investment of $35 million.'

Currently rainwater tanks with a capacity of less than 4,500 litres that are sited at least 900mm from the boundary of a property, are not located over stormwater sewer pipes and installed in accordance with the manufacturers instructions do not require a development application.

If the size and proposed installation plans for the tank do not meet the above criteria, then a development application is required so Council can carry out all necessary environmental assessments.

'As part of us encouraging residents to install rainwater tanks, Council has agreed to waive all application and inspection fees for the installation of tanks which fall outside of the Council's provisions for exempt development provisions as well as those of SEPP4,' said Laurie Maher.

'Council will, however, still require applications to be lodged for large tanks or those close to property boundaries because of the possibility of amenity issues between neighbours. Council has in place mechanisms to review installations that may fall into this category.

'This doesn’t mean, however, that we want to disadvantage anyone who wants to install a large rainwater tank or who only has the space to install one close to their property boundary. In these instances, the fees payable for inspection of these installations will be waived.''

ENDS

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