I got a letter saying my Lara land is liable to flooding. Does it change my plumbing?

Not by itself. It describes the land, not your house. It matters when you build or extend, because Council then advises minimum floor levels, and a surveyor can tell you how your existing floor compares.

Is my Lara property on septic?

Check with Barwon Water whether it's sewered. Council's 2007 strategy said the township's fringe areas were not. If a septic permit was issued, Council may be able to give the registered owner the plans.

Lara plumbers: flood-prone land, stormwater and septic

Plumbers in Lara Flat land, Hovells Creek.

Lara is flat and sits on the banks of Hovells Creek, and the City of Greater Geelong says the township floods often. Barwon Water supplies water and sewerage; Council runs the street drains. Send us your Lara job and we match you with a licence-checked local plumber who specialises in that kind of work.

What Council says about Lara

Floods, again and again

Council recorded significant floods in 1933, 1973, 1983, 1988, 1995, 2005 and 2010. The flat terrain makes it prone to widespread shallow stormwater flooding, and the creek adds a risk of riverine flooding.

Under nine hours

The Hovells Creek catchment covers 230 square kilometres. Council says that under the right conditions it can flood parts of Lara in under nine hours.

The 2020 flood study letters

After the Lara Flood Study 2020, Council contacted owners to say whether their land was designated liable to flooding. The flood extent covers land, not buildings.

Houses with mortgages

At the 2021 Census, 89.5% of Lara's occupied homes were separate houses, and 45.6% were owned with a mortgage, against 36.1% across Victoria.

If your land is liable to flooding

The letter is about the ground, not your floor. Council says a surveyor can measure your floor levels to show whether the building itself is at risk.

For new building work, Council advises minimum floor levels on flood-prone land under Regulations 153 and 154 of the Building Regulations 2018. Lara has both kinds of flooding: Council gives advice on stormwater flooding, while the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority handles creek and coastal flooding. Ask Council before you extend or rebuild.

Whose pipes after a storm

Gutters, downpipes, pits and buried stormwater pipes on your land form a private system. You maintain it up to and including the legal point of discharge, even where that sits on public land or in a neighbour's easement. Council recommends a licensed plumber for private drainage problems.

Seepage gives a clue. After heavy rain, Council points to runoff, groundwater or faulty stormwater systems. With no recent rain, faulty plumbing or a damaged water pipe could be the cause, and a broken Barwon Water pipe is Barwon Water's to fix.

Septic around Lara

Council's 2007 wastewater strategy listed the township's fringe as unsewered, and the oldest septic systems it audited were in Lara and a few other towns. It also says a system wears out sooner when the tank isn't desludged regularly or the effluent field is flooded or invaded by tree roots.

In a flood-prone town, that last point matters. See our septic systems page for what a plumber checks.

What we would do

After a flood, don't assume the drains are fine because the water has gone. Ask a drain specialist to check that your stormwater and sewer lines run freely, and if you're on septic, have the tank and effluent area looked at too. Planning a renovation? Get Council's floor level advice before the plumbing is drawn up.