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Water on a North Shore block, a guide by Dotto

Plumbing and drainage on Sydney’s North Shore, New South Wales

The six guides

Guide · Boundaries

Whose pipe is it?

Under Sydney Water’s customer contract, the property owner owns and is responsible for the water pipes from the connection point with Sydney Water’s drinking water system to the buildings and taps, and for the wastewater pipes up to and including the connection point with its wastewater system. Both connection points can lie beyond the property boundary, so some of the pipes that are yours may run outside your block.

The NSW plumbing regulator draws a separate line for its inspections, the point of connection, and says that line does not decide who owns or maintains the pipes.

Section through a block. Water: the main in the street feeds the property service up to the meter, then the water service runs to the house. Sewer: the house drain runs downhill to the property boundary, marked as point of connection a, or joins a junction inside the boundary, marked b, then the pipe continues to the sewer main. Sydney Water’s connection points, marked CP, sit at the water main and the sewer main beyond the boundary; the owner’s pipes run from the house to them. GROUND LEVEL2 House1 PROPERTY BOUNDARY11 STREET WATER SERVICE3 MAIN6 METER4 PROPERTY SERVICE5 HOUSE DRAIN7 SEWER10 MAIN CP12 CP12 a9 b8
  1. 1House
  2. 2Ground level
  3. 3Water service, from the meter outlet to the house
  4. 4Meter
  5. 5Property service, from the main up to and including the meter
  6. 6Water main
  7. 7House drain
  8. 8Point of connection b: where it joins the junction or vertical inside the boundary
  9. 9Point of connection a: where the sewer service crosses the boundary
  10. 10Sewer main
  11. 11Property boundary, with the street beyond it
  12. 12CP: Sydney Water’s connection points. Your pipes run from the house to these, and they may be beyond the boundary
Drawn for this guide. Under Sydney Water’s customer contract, the owner’s water and wastewater pipes run from the house to the connection points with Sydney Water’s systems, marked CP, which may be beyond the boundary; the water meter itself stays Sydney Water’s property. The points a and b are the regulator’s separate inspection line. Not to scale, and not your block.

What the contract says

IPART says Sydney Water serves Sydney, the Illawarra and the Blue Mountains, and North Sydney Council’s own pages refer to Sydney Water’s sewage system. IPART, the regulator that sets Sydney Water’s prices, says its current operating licence began on 1 July 2024, runs to 30 June 2028, and includes a customer contract. Clause 8 of that contract sets out who looks after what.

Sydney Water’s systems
Sydney Water is responsible for maintaining and repairing its own systems (clause 8.2).
Your water systems
As the owner, you hold and answer for the water pipes running from the connection point with Sydney Water’s drinking water and recycled water systems to the buildings or taps on your property. They may extend beyond your boundary, and your responsibility covers installation, maintenance and repair (clause 8.3(1)).
Your wastewater system
You also hold and answer for the wastewater pipes from your property up to Sydney Water’s wastewater system, including the connection point with it, which may also be beyond your boundary (clause 8.5(1)). Work on it is done by a licensed plumber or drainer (clause 8.5(2)(a)).
Pipes across other land
Where your water or wastewater pipes cross other private property, getting the necessary legal rights for them is your responsibility (clauses 8.3(2)(b) and 8.5(2)(b)).
The meter
The installed water meter remains Sydney Water’s property and it maintains it. The pipework on either side of the meter is yours to install and maintain, unless Sydney Water repairs it under clause 8.4 (clause 11.1).

The contract defines a connection point as the joint or fitting where your systems connect to Sydney Water’s, and says it may be on or near your property. If you do not know where your wastewater connection point is, the contract says to contact Sydney Water, which can tell you where to find a diagram (clause 8.5(5)).

Two courtesy repairs

Sydney Water may repair, free, a failure in your water system between its system and your meter, up to one metre along the pipe inside your boundary, with exclusions (clause 8.4). It may also repair, free, a collapse in your wastewater pipes under a footpath or roadway in public land, where a licensed plumber has given it evidence that excavation is needed (clause 8.6), a repair it offers to residential customers only. Either way the repaired pipes stay yours.

A separate line: the point of connection

The regulator’s rules on the point of connection are in NSW Fair Trading’s Technical Note 3/2013, dated May 2021 and now published by Building Commission NSW. It explains what counts as on-site plumbing and drainage work, which the regulator inspects under the Plumbing and Drainage Act 2011, and where that work ends. It adds that its description “does not affect who owns, or is responsible for maintenance of services”, which it leaves to the contracts between the customer and the water utility.

The water side

Property service
The pipes and fittings carrying water from the water main to a property, up to and including the meter assembly (or, where no meter is required, up to the stop tap). The note takes this definition from the plumbing standard AS/NZS 3500.0:2018.
Water service
Also called the on-site plumbing installation or house service: the pipework from the outlet of the water meter or boundary isolation valve to the fixtures.
Point of connection
Where the private water service pipe connects to the property service, or to an alternative water supply system. If the house draws from a rainwater tank, it is where the private pipe connects to the outlet of the tank.

For anything to do with the property service, the note suggests the licensee or property owner contact the water utility.

The sewer side

Sewer service
The sanitary drainage pipework from the point of connection upstream to every sewer drainage fixture on the property.
Point of connection
Either where the sewer service crosses the boundary, or where it joins the junction or vertical inside the property boundary.

For anything from the property boundary to the utility’s sewer main, the note again suggests contacting the utility. On the property side, Building Commission NSW requires the plumber to book an audit inspection of external drainage up to the point of connection when that work is done in Sydney.

Pieces that stay with the owner

Some fittings and pipes the rules plainly leave with the property owner:

  • A reflux valve, where one is installed at the sewer connection, remains the property owner’s responsibility.
  • An on-site sewage system, on a property not connected to Sydney Water’s sewerage system, is the owner’s responsibility, says North Sydney Council.
  • In North Sydney, the council’s plan says inter-allotment stormwater drains (pipes carrying one block’s water through a neighbour’s land) “remain forever the responsibility” of the property owner, unless the title deeds name the council as responsible for the easement. It also requires the owners of properties affected by stormwater drainage easements to keep the system clean, and to maintain and repair it.

Finding your own pipes

A Sewer Service Diagram shows where the private sewer pipes run on a property. In the Sydney, Illawarra and Blue Mountains areas, Sydney Water keeps these drawings, and they are available from the Tap in portal on its website. Plumbers and drainers must give a copy to whoever arranged drainage work, and lodge one with the regulator when the work requires inspection.

Older houses may have no diagram on file. Building Commission NSW notes that a diagram is not required for a sale where it is not available in the ordinary course of administration, under the Conveyancing (Sale of Land) Regulation 2022.

When a plumber finds a problem

A plumber who starts work and finds existing plumbing or drainage that is defective or does not comply must give the owner or occupier written notice, under section 11 of the Plumbing and Drainage Act 2011, and tell the regulator if it poses an immediate threat to public health or safety. If you receive one of these notices, it is worth asking which side of the point of connection the problem sits on.

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