Aqwest's side, and yours
Aqwest, known since November 2013 as the Bunbury Water Corporation, supplies about 18,000 properties from the Yarragadee Aquifer. It currently serves Bunbury, Picton and parts of Dalyellup; in Dalyellup, your water bill shows whether Aqwest is your supplier.
Aqwest maintains the system from the main up to and including the meter. The property owner looks after everything between the meter and the house. Most meters sit about half a metre inside the front boundary, so a wet patch there is worth reporting to Aqwest before you call a plumber.
The sewer
Aqwest supplies water only. Bunbury's sewage goes to Water Corporation's Bunbury Wastewater Treatment Plant, which has discharged treated water through an ocean outfall since 2002. Check your bill to confirm who provides your sewerage.
Where Water Corporation is the sewer provider, owners pay to clear a blockage anywhere in their property connection, up to the junction with its main. If the blockage is in its main, Water Corporation pays the plumber a standard fee for locating it. Our guide to who owns the sewer pipe sets out each authority's rule.
Bunbury facts that shape a plumbing job
Water around 100 mg/L
Aqwest says its water carries about 100 mg/L of calcium carbonate, which it describes as moderately soft to slightly hard.
Low pressure from old pipes
Aqwest says corroded pipes or old galvanised iron private services can cause low pressure inside a home, and that is work for a licensed private plumber. Its bucket test: if a 10-litre bucket at the tap nearest the meter takes 30 seconds or more to fill, pressure may be low.
A third of homes rented
At the 2021 Census, 34.1% of occupied homes in the City of Bunbury were rented, against 27.3% across WA, and 19.1% were townhouses, terraces or semis.
Cool, wet winters
The Bureau's Bunbury station averages 7.8 days a year at 2°C or colder over 31 years, and July is its wettest month at 147.3 mm.
Checking a WA plumber
Building and Energy runs the WA Online Licence Search, which covers plumbing and gas fitting. Under regulation 25, a licensed plumbing contractor must show the licence number on advertising, and regulation 25A puts it on quotes and invoices too. Knowingly hiring an unlicensed person for plumbing work is an offence, with a $5,000 penalty.
Installing or replacing a water heater is major work in WA. The contractor gives notice at least 24 hours before starting and must hand you a certificate of compliance within five working days of finishing. Natural gas reaches Bunbury through ATCO's network; gas fitters are on the same licence search.
Find the right specialist
Pick the page that fits: water pressure, leak detection, blocked drains, hot water, gas plumbing or an emergency plumber. WA's rules are on our Western Australia page.
What we would do
For low pressure, do Aqwest's bucket test before anything else. If the flow at the meter tap is fine but the house is weak, the cause is on your side; Aqwest names corroded and old galvanised pipes as one reason, and a plumber can quote to replace them. If the meter tap is slow too, ring Aqwest first. For any WA job, check the licence number on the quote against the Online Licence Search before you accept.