WCC, Infrastructure, Public drainage plans (D Plans)

Descriptive Data

Archives Identifier00423Date Range1890-2005DescriptionThis series holds the ‘as built’ plans for the Wellington’s public drainage system. Although the oldest plan in the series is from 1890, the majority date from 1893 and they go through almost to the present day.

In 1892 the Wellington City Sanitation Loan Empowering Act was passed allowing the City “to raise certain monies for sanitation and other purposes”. Work on the Wellington Main Drainage system was started that year and completed in 1899 at a total cost of £175,000. This initial work was only within the original boundaries of the Wellington City Council (Thorndon to Berhampore, bordered by the Town Belt), except for a few nearby areas such as Holloway Road. The pipes ran through the Melrose Borough Council to reach the outfall at Moa Point.

In 1903 the Melrose Borough Council amalgamated with Wellington City and the system needed to be expanded to include the suburbs of Hataitai, Kilbirnie, Lyall Bay, Island Bay and Brooklyn. Work on this started in 1908 and was largely completed by 1916. As other areas joined Wellington, the Council either took over existing drainage systems or expanded the city drainage to include them.

The plans show the location of sewage pipelines and record details relating to the construction of supporting infrastructure like manholes, pipe bridges and equipment such as septic tanks and ejector pumps. The drawings show the initial creation of the drainage system and its expansion and maintenance over time.

For each piece of work plans were created and each plan was given a unique number prefixed with a D. In a small number of cases, where significant works created a large number of drawings, they were kept together in a folder which was then given a ‘D’ number. Most plans are on paper with some linen and some blueprint tracings. All use colour markings as indicators and often there are updates and annotations, including file reference numbers.

The plans have come from various different sources. The drawings were usually created by Council staff or contractors. The plans of equipment are often standard drawings from the manufacturers. A number of drawings from other plan sequences such as the City Engineers drawings (series 00237) were renumbered into this series in the past. Drawings originally from the Miramar Borough Council were also added to this sequence following amalgamation. This series is not entirely complete and some D plans are missing.

In the 1970s and 1980s the Council went through and copied all infrastructure drawings onto microfiche. So if a plan is missing in this series, it may be possible to find it on an aperture card (see Series 00718). Much of the information on the plans was entered into the old ‘City Mapping’ computer system in the early 1990s. This is usually recorded on the plans with a stamp 'Entered in City mapping' with the date it happened.

To allow easier management of the series, Wellington City Archives have imposed a numbering sequence that runs within each folder. The original plan number has been recorded in the Other Id field of the database. Numbers from other Council plan sequences such as the City Engineers drawings have also been noted in the Other Id field. The ‘D’ plan sequence continues in use to the present day. As new plans are transferred to Archives they will be added to the end of this series.Quantity (Linear Metres)33.6MediumPlanSystem of ArrangementIn plan number orderCollection TypeWellington City Council

Access Information

Restriction StatusOpen

Related Agencies

Controlling or Creating AgencyInfrastructureRelationship Date Range2002-

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WCC, Infrastructure, Public drainage plans (D Plans)