Queenstown Lakes Deputy Mayor Calum MacLeod said contractors would be digging out 3-4m of the existing soak pit at the entrance to Northlake in Aubrey Rd this week.
Whitestone civil operations manager Paul McNatty said the work would take several days but the start had been delayed due to the flooding from recent rain.
He said stormwater from rain on Sunday and Monday had blocked one lane of Aubrey Rd and it took three hours for the crew to pump and cart away the estimated 30,000 to 40,000 litres of water on the road and verge.
"There is an existing mud and soakage tank underground but it is completely saturated with some sort of silty clay and not draining,"Mr McNatty said.
"We are going to be doing some testing to see if we can get soakage further down. If we find good gravel, then we are away.’’
Cr MacLeod said monitoring of the soak pits would continue during rain events and if the approach was not successful, a long-term solution would need to be part of the Long Term Plan or Three Waters project.
Stormwater flooding on Aubrey Rd has been an ongoing issue for locals but Cr MacLeod said the appearance of a dummy tethered to the fence and floating on the water on Sunday and Monday did not prompt the work programme.
Mr McNatty said the floating dummy was now on dry land and whoever owned it was welcome to collect it.
