Robina facts behind a plumbing job
A lake system built for floods
South Lake, West Lake and Clear Island Waters were built from 1983 to 1991 as a retention basin for floodwater and stormwater from the Mudgeeraba and Worongary Creek catchments.
What runs into the lakes
The City says stormwater entering Robina Lakes is largely untreated. It asks residents to keep fertiliser, detergent, pet droppings and clippings from washing in.
On the City's inspection list
Robina was one of the suburbs in the City's Inflow Mitigation Program, which ran from 2020 to 2023 and looked for stormwater getting into the sewer.
A townhouse suburb
At the 2021 Census, 31.6% of Robina's occupied homes were townhouses, terraces or semis, against 11.7% statewide. Separate houses made up 54.6%.
What the inspectors found
Across the suburbs inspected, about 4500 properties in all, 16% had stormwater getting into the sewer. The usual causes were an overflow relief gully that was faulty or sat too low, an inspection opening with a broken or missing lid, and stormwater pipes connected to the sewer. Owners fixed 65% of the problems, and the City says an enforcement phase may follow.
Replacing the cap on a ground-level inspection opening is on the QBCC's list of jobs you can do yourself. Raising a gully or reconnecting a stormwater pipe needs a licensed plumber.
Lakefront and townhouse blocks
If your home backs onto a lake, the revetment wall that benefits your property is yours to maintain. In a community title development, the body corporate looks after it.
Pipes can be shared too. In a townhouse complex, ask the body corporate which drains are common property before you book anyone.
Your drain or the City's
City of Gold Coast looks after the sewer from its main to the connection point on your land, or to one metre inside the boundary when no one can locate that point. The drains and inspection openings on the house side are the owner's. For a stubborn blockage, a CCTV drain inspection shows which side it's on. More on Gold Coast blocked drains.
What we'd do in Robina
Walk the yard after the next downpour. Water ponding around the overflow relief gully, or an inspection opening with no lid, are the faults the City's program turned up most. A new cap is a small job you can do yourself. Anything that means moving the gully or changing pipes is work for a drain specialist, and fixing it now beats waiting for an enforcement phase.