That is what an Oamaru man wants to know, after he was left in limbo for nearly three months when he found a hole had been drilled through one of his sewer pipes.
Lindsay McKenzie was renovating his bathroom and laundry in May when he found a major blockage.
Once the plumber cleared the blockage, he then put a drainage camera down the pipe only to discover two holes on either side of the sewer pipe connecting Mr McKenzie’s property to Waitaki District Council’s sewer mains.
He quickly found out that council policy is that sewer service lines are owned by the property owner from the point of connection to the sewer mains, including the section of their line which is outside of their property boundary.
This policy created a situation where Mr McKenzie owns the pipe, but it is underneath council-owned land, meaning he cannot just dig it up and fix it.
A traffic management plan would be required as the damage is underneath the road.
Mr McKenzie was told by his plumber several weeks ago that it could take seven or eight weeks to get fixed.
Since the initial blockage was cleared, he has had to unblock the pipe again a few weeks ago and has had to leave a hole in his driveway, which is covered by a wooden board, so he has easy access.
Mr McKenzie was frustrated by the whole situation, considering he had done nothing wrong.
"It’s not a natural thing. If it was a cracked pipe it would be different, but someone has done it, someone has damaged it."
His biggest complaint was the council leaving the responsibility of organising the repairs to the homeowner.
"I think they should actually look after their ratepayers and even if they’re not going to pay for it, they should get it fixed and then sort out who’s responsible for the damage.
"Imagine if someone is 80 or 90-years-old, how are they supposed to handle dealing with all that?"
Waitaki District Council infrastructure manager Joshua Rendell said if the council was to take responsibility and own private service lines, it would need to increase rates to cover the cost.
"Service lines are of variable age and condition and those of young age or reasonable condition would in effect subsidise those in poor or older condition.
"It would be unfair for ratepayers for council to cover the costs of another company or for private infrastructure."
The Dunedin City Council has a similar policy and when asked if he was aware of any other councils that do not repair sewer service lines, Mr Rendell said "different councils have different policies".
"This has been our council’s policy for many years."
After a bit of confusion about who actually damaged the pipe, Spark put its hand up to take responsibility.
"While we are unable to determine the exact cause, we appreciate the inconvenience this has caused Mr McKenzie," a Spark spokesperson said.
"As a result, we will arrange and cover the cost of the required repairs as soon as possible. We have also contacted him directly to apologise and provide an update on the next steps."
Mr McKenzie was very grateful for Spark’s help.
