Environment and community groups want Christchurch City Council to spend part of a multi-million dollar fund on upgrading the city's stormwater and wastewater systems.
They say the systems were operating poorly before the earthquakes, and the need to rebuild them because of quake damage presents an opportunity to improve them.
The Avon Otokaro Network and the Spreydon-Heathcote Community Board say the of the storm and wastewater systems functioned badly before the earthquakes, polluting the city's rivers with silt and sewage.
They say simply rebuilding the old systems would produce the same problems.
The groups want part of the council's $175 million fund set aside for improvements to be spent upgrading the systems.
They also have plans to develop wetlands in red-zoned suburbs to filter stormwater and improve the water quality.
