[video: Auckland Council logo (pōhutukawa flower over water). Music plays. Title ‘Catchpit protection’ shows over dimmed image of young man in workwear and high vis vest placing something at the kerb in front of a house which may be part of a building development.]
[video: Houses with what looks like a development at the back of one of them. Dirty water flowing down the path to the development and onto the street.]
Young man: One of the key things that council is concerned about is how to ensure that dirt and contaminants don’t come off your site and into our waterways.
[video: Aerial view over land and sea with a brown area that could be sand or pollution.]
[video: Young man in high vis vest standing in front of housing development. Caption: ‘Sean Brown, Brown & Brown Builders Ltd’.]
Sean: Lots of builders use drain protection or catchpit protection.
[video: Drain with material over the top of it which has captured some debris and dirty water, but doesn’t extend all the way to one edge of the drain.]
Sean: But they don’t always work that well.
[video: Sean in front of housing development.]
Sean: The best thing to do is to use drain protection with other controls such as silt fences and bunds. We’ve got some other videos to show you how to do these.
[video: Sean walks to the front of the development and shakes hand with a woman in a high vis vest.]
Sean: So have a talk with your council compliance officer about the best options for your site.
[video: Sean and the woman look at documents, gesture around the site, and check that fabric on a silt fence is tight.]
Sean: They are there to protect the environment, and work with you to get the best results.
[video: Sean places filter socks (stuffed tubes of fabric) at the kerb. He walks forward and places a second set.]
Sean: So if you already have some controls in place, and you want to install catchpit protection, install a series of filter socks in the kerb channel. This will slow the water flow, allowing more sediment to drop out of the water. All accumulated sediment should be shovelled up and put back on your site behind your silt fence.
[video: Drain with debris and dirty water.]
Sean: Don’t hose it down the drains.
[video: Drain with filter sock above it blocking dirty water.]
Sean: Doing it this way, with socks, reduces the risk of flooding, as the stormwater still can make it to the drains, even if there’s heavy rainfall.
[video: Filter sock which looks like it may have split. Filter sock and some debris on the kerbside.]
Sean: It’s important to check the filter socks regularly – especially after there’s been a lot of rain, because they can shift or get clogged up.
[video: Sean lifts filter sock over his shoulder and carries it away.]
Sean: And remember to remove them when your job is finished.
[video: Auckland Council logo. Music.]