Will the creek project need to work on my property?

If works are planned near you, the Brown Hill and Keswick Creeks Stormwater Board says you'll get a letter from it. Its Stage 4 works focus on stopping creek water breaking out onto private land.

Does rain from my roof go into the sewer?

It shouldn't. The EPA says downpipes and other outside drains connect to stormwater, which is separate from the sewer. If your gully overflows when it rains, a drain specialist can check for a wrong connection or a blockage.

Plumbers in Mitcham, SA: creeks, flood risk and stormwater

Plumbers in Mitcham Creeks, trees and drains.

Mitcham, the suburb, sits in the City of Mitcham's Boorman Ward, in a council area that has spent years planning for creek floods. Most jobs here are still leaks, drains and hot water, but heavy rain and big trees change some of them. Tell us what's going on at your Mitcham place and we'll line up a licence-checked plumber who specialises in it.

Mitcham in four facts

Suburb and council

The suburb is in the City of Mitcham's Boorman Ward, alongside Brown Hill Creek, Netherby and Springfield. Hawthorn is in the same council's Gault Ward.

Houses, flats and units

At the 2021 Census, 61.7% of the suburb's occupied homes were separate houses, 17.2% semis, terraces or townhouses and 19.9% flats or apartments. 23.0% were rented, and the median age was 44.

Five councils, one flood plan

The City of Mitcham is one of five councils behind the Brown Hill Keswick Creek Stormwater Project. Its board says almost 4,000 properties would be flood affected in a one in 100 year flood before the works, and 63 after. Completion is scheduled by 2036.

Floods on private land

Stage 4 upgrades Upper Brown Hill Creek and Glen Osmond Creek to stop break-outs onto private property. In Hawthorn, properties along one private stretch of the creek were inundated in 2005, 2016 and 2023.

Is it stormwater or sewer?

The EPA says the two systems are separate. Kitchen, bathroom, laundry and toilet drains go to the sewer. Downpipes and outdoor drains go to stormwater, which runs untreated to creeks and the sea.

So water spilling from a pit after a storm is a stormwater job, while a gully overflowing on a dry day points to a sewer blockage. We couldn't read the City of Mitcham's own stormwater pages, so ask Council where your block is meant to discharge before replacing a pipe to the street.

Sewer pipes and SA Water

SA Water looks after the sewer mains, but its rule on where your pipe ends wouldn't load for us. Ask SA Water before paying for work near the boundary. In South Australia, the utility's inspection point can sit inside your block, not just at the fence.

Big trees near the drains

South Australian planning law protects big trees on private land. A trunk 1 metre around, measured 1 metre up, makes a tree regulated, and earthworks in its root zones can need approval. Check with Council before a trench goes in, or ask about pipe relining instead.

What we would do

After a big storm, check your pits, gutters and downpipes before calling about the sewer: the two problems need different specialists. If your block backs onto Brown Hill Creek or Glen Osmond Creek, keep the board's letters and maps handy. And for a drain near a big tree, get a relining quote before anyone talks about digging.