The City's sewer, and where yours ends
The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder maintains just over 208 km of sewer line and takes sewer fault calls; for drinking water faults it points you to Water Corporation. If a blockage is on the residential side of the sewer junction, the City says hiring a plumber to fix it is up to you.
Where a plumber attends a blockage at a sewered home, the City will reimburse a set maximum of one hour of labour and one hour of drain machine hire. That covers trying to clear an inspection shaft that is holding water, and checking the neighbour's inspection shaft. Finding the inspection shaft, and anything done upstream of it, stays at the owner's cost.
In some parts of town the City's main sewer runs inside property boundaries. If one crosses your block, keep buildings and large trees off it. Our guide to who owns the sewer pipe compares other authorities.
Kalgoorlie facts that shape a plumbing job
Water from Mundaring Weir
Kalgoorlie is the far end of Water Corporation's Goldfields and Agricultural scheme, which runs from Mundaring Weir in the Perth hills. Its 2024-25 data gives total hardness of 100 to 110 mg/L for Kalgoorlie, from 2 samples.
Smart meters show your use
Water Corporation fitted smart meters across Kalgoorlie-Boulder so customers can track their water use, and has been replacing more than 14,000 of them as the old ones reach the end of their life. Use that climbs overnight, when taps are off, can point to a leak.
Frost and heat in one year
Kalgoorlie-Boulder Airport averages 15.3 days a year at 2°C or colder over 85 years, and 12.9 days of ground frost. It also averages 42.2 days a year at 35°C or hotter.
Plenty of renters
At the 2021 Census, 36.7% of homes in the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder were rented, against 27.3% across WA. Tenants should report leaks to the landlord or agent promptly.
Checking a WA plumber
Building and Energy's WA Online Licence Search covers plumbers and gas fitters. Regulation 25 makes a licensed contractor show the licence number in advertising, and regulation 25A extends that to quotes and invoices.
Only a short list of jobs is open to homeowners in WA, such as replacing a shower head or cistern washer, or clearing a blocked fixture with a plunger. Everything else on the water, sanitary and drainage side needs a licensed plumber or permit holder. Natural gas reaches homes through ATCO's Kalgoorlie network, which has 7500 connections.
Find the right specialist
Start with blocked drains, tree roots in drains, burst pipes, leak detection, hot water or an emergency plumber. WA's rules are on our Western Australia page.
What we would do
Before a blocked drain job, find your inspection shaft and clear anything sitting on it, because the cost of locating it is yours. If it's full and the neighbour's is too, the problem may be in the City's line, so call the City's wastewater team. If yours is empty, the blockage is upstream and it's a job for a drain specialist. Before winter, lag exposed pipes; before summer, check pipes and fittings in full sun.