Tweed Heads facts that change the job
Council is the water authority
Tweed Shire Council supplies water and wastewater services to almost 90,000 people, through 1,700 kilometres of water and sewer mains and 226 pump stations.
Units and townhouses
At the 2021 Census, 44.2% of the suburb's occupied homes were flats or apartments and 30.2% townhouses or semis. Across NSW, 65.6% were separate houses.
An older, settled suburb
41.2% of homes were owned outright, against 31.5% across NSW. The median age was 55.
Council regulates plumbing
Council regulates plumbing and drainage in the Tweed. A plumbing permit goes in at least 2 business days before work, and drainage is inspected before it's covered.
Blocked sewer? Call Council first
This is the rule that catches people out. Tweed Shire Council asks you to call it, at any hour, before you call a plumber. One of its own plumbers checks the inspection shaft and tells you whose side the blockage is on.
Council doesn't automatically pay a privately hired plumber's bill for clearing a Council sewer. Skip the call and you risk paying, wherever the blockage turns out to be.
Reading the inspection shaft
Find it
It's usually in the front or back yard, under a plastic or cast iron lid about the size of a bread and butter plate.
Overflowing? Call Council now
If sewage is coming out of the shaft, Council wants to hear about it immediately.
Look inside
Water or sewage sitting in the shaft probably means Council's problem. A clear shaft points to your own pipes, and tree roots can mean a shared cost.
Who owns which pipe
Owners look after every pipe and fitting inside the boundary, including rainwater tanks and internal sewer drainage. Council looks after the water supply up to and including the meter, and the sewer downstream of the inspection shaft. Keep the meter, the shaft and any manholes on your land uncovered and easy to reach.
NSW licences and paperwork
In NSW, a contractor licence is needed for plumbing, drainage and gasfitting of any value, and you can look one up on the NSW public register. When the job is done, the plumber lodges a Certificate of Compliance and gives a copy to whoever arranged the work. Replacing a hot water heater needs a temperature control device, even like-for-like. See NSW plumbing rules and how to check a licence.
What we'd do in Tweed Heads
If a toilet or floor drain backs up, don't book a plumber first. Call Tweed Shire Council and let its plumber read the inspection shaft. If the blockage is on your side, then bring in a drain specialist and ask them to write down what they found. Doing it in that order keeps a Council-side fault at Council's cost.