Builders' Toolkit

Maintaining your building site is important to reduce its impact on the environment. Below are some resources to help you build responsibly.

Sediment and erosion

• Use appropriate sediment controls. This can halve your impact on our waterways by 50%.
• Protect gutters and drains so sediment and other material from your site doesn't wash into the water system.
• Watch the weather. If rain is expected, install extra sediment controls to limit runoff and avoid fines. For windy conditions, make sure building materials and items on your site are adequately secured.
• Know your responsibilities and follow directions. If you're building under development approval, there may be extra steps in your consent that you'll need to take to maintain your site while building.
• Watch where you're working. Make sure activities like brick cutting, concrete wash out and similar actions are done within the site and away from the kerb and gutter.
• Manage waffle pods if you're using them. While waffle pods are on site, you must comply with the code of practice and remove them from site as soon as possible after installation.

Penalties

Significant fines, which are set by the NSW Government, can apply if your building site is causing pollution to our waterways and the environment. Fines can be up to $15,000 for individuals, or up to $30,000 for companies.

General tips

• Make sure you have the right approval for your development
• Read all the conditions of your development approval
• Apply for additional approvals as required, for example:
  • driveway construction or works on roads and footpaths
  • activity application for discharge to stormwater (please also see the 'Managing water on building sites' section below)
  • Section 68 applications
• Fence off your site from public access
• Make sure all site signage is installed and visible
• Keep all materials and building supplies within the site
• Make sure your site has a compliant bin installed before works start. Your bin should have a tight-fitting lid and be able to conceal all waste.

Managing water on building sites

It's common for water to accumulate on building sites, such as in on-site excavations or settlement ponds.

This type of water must not be discharged into Council's stormwater system without a Section 68 approval issued under the Local Government Act 1993.

The process for getting approval to discharge water can take several weeks to process, so plan ahead. It's recommended you arrange approval before a construction certificate is issued.

To apply for approval to discharge water from your building site to Council's stormwater system, you will need to provide:

• A site-specific dewatering plan, and
• A site-specific site plan (to scale) with detail of the site set out for dewatering operations.

Independent hydrogeologists and / or environmental consultants can assist you with the preparation of a Dewatering Management Plan specific to your site.

When you're ready, visit the NSW Planning Portal to apply for permission.

After your application is approved, you will also need to meet the following conditions before any dewatering takes place:

1. The concentration of suspended solids in the water to be discharged does not exceed 50 mg/L; and
2. The turbidity of the water to be discharged does not exceed 50 NTUs/FTUs; and
3. The pH of the water to be discharged is between 6.5 and 8.5; and
4. The water to be discharged contains no visible oil or grease; and
5. If alum has been used to reduce suspended solids, the concentration of aluminium in the water to be discharged does not exceed 0.055 mg/L; and
6. The water to be discharged does not contain any substances known to be toxic to aquatic life or could create a toxic environment; and
7. The flow rate of discharged water does not exceed 55 litres per second in dry weather conditions, or is less than the capacity of the receiving stormwater drain; and
8. All discharge dates, times, period of discharge, volumes, observations and results required to satisfy Criteria 1 to 7 and requirements from the dewatering management plan are to be logged and maintained in a format / register with commentary that can easily be submitted to Council or immediately provided to Council staff upon request and at the end of the construction phase for review.
9. A copy from a NATA accredited laboratory of sample test results for suspended solids and pH (and aluminium if applicable) confirming the water to be discharged meets criteria 1 and 2 (and criteria 4 if applicable) as stated above is to be logged and maintained in log / register with the other observations and results for other criteria.

Please note, the above list is an example of the minimum requirements for a typical site. However, additional conditions or testing requirements may be applied to your specific site. Details will be included with your approval advice.

Helpful resources

These are just some resources that may help you with the building process.