When a drain blocks
Stop running water
Every flush or tap adds to what has nowhere to go.
Look at the overflow gully
Council's charter asks owners to keep it unobstructed, so a sewer overflow comes out in the yard rather than inside the house. Clear away pots, mulch or pavers sitting on it.
Contact Council
Council clears blockages in its own infrastructure. Its charter treats a blocked sewer main as urgent and a dry weather sewer overflow as an emergency.
If the fault is yours, book a drain specialist
Everything from the point of connection to the house is the owner's to maintain and repair. A plumber who clears drains every week can find the blockage, often with a camera.
Central Coast facts for drains
Stormwater must stay out of the sewer
The charter makes owners responsible for making sure every stormwater connection is legally connected to the stormwater system, not the sewer.
Pits, pipes and easements are private
Owners maintain their roof drainage, gutters, downpipes, stormwater pipes and inlet pits. A private drainage easement between lots belongs to the owners it burdens or benefits, not to Council.
Heavy rain is part of the climate
Gosford's records average 14.3 days a year with 25 mm or more of rain. Council says its climate and topography make stormwater flooding a common problem for owners.
Some blocks aren't on the sewer
Properties with no sewer connection treat wastewater on site and must register the system with Council. There, a slow drain can be a septic problem; see our septic systems page.
Digging, notices and inspections
Council asks owners not to excavate, build or landscape over or next to its water and sewer pipes without speaking to it first. Raise that before a drain is dug up near the boundary.
Council, not Building Commission NSW, inspects plumbing and drainage here. The plumber gives Council a notice of work at least two days before starting. Within two days of finishing, they submit a certificate of compliance, with a copy for you, plus a diagram of any sanitary drainage they laid. Drainage is specialist work in NSW, so the business needs a contractor licence covering it; check the NSW Public Register.
Stormwater from next door
Owners must accept natural overland flow from higher land and must not divert or concentrate it onto a neighbour. Council investigates when there's evidence of damage and the water has been directed by a structure or drain, or comes from faulty roof drainage. A plumber can fix your own downpipes and pits; a dispute about natural flow is usually a matter between neighbours.
What we would do
Contact Council at the first sign of a sewer blockage, as its charter asks, and let it tell you which side the problem is on. While you wait, keep water use down and make sure the overflow gully is clear. If the blockage is yours, use a drain specialist whose licence you've checked, and keep the drainage diagram they give you: on the Central Coast, Council gets the other copy.