Your pipes, and Water Corporation's
Water Corporation is the principal supplier of water, wastewater and drainage services in Western Australia, and its Integrated Water Supply Scheme supplies Perth. For a Perth home, its rules are the ones to know.
On the sewer, the owner pays to clear any blockage in the property's own connection, as far as the sewer junction on Water Corporation's main. When a plumber finds the blockage in the main instead, the plumber rings Water Corporation, its crew clears it, and it pays the plumber a standard fee for locating it. Ask your plumber to make that call rather than work past the junction.
Our guide to who owns the sewer pipe compares Water Corporation's line with other water companies'.
Where the lines fall in Perth
| The owner's side | The other side | |
|---|---|---|
| Sewer | The overflow relief gully, the pipe across the yard, the inspection shaft, the rising shaft and the property connection. | Water Corporation's sewer main, which is normally outside the property. |
| Water supply, single home | From the plumber's elbow at the meter through to the house. | Water Corporation looks after the stretch from the plumber's elbow to the roadside. |
| Stormwater | Drains on your block, which often run to the street gutter. | Local authorities manage stormwater in WA. Water Corporation's main drains add to that network, and it runs over 40% of Perth's urban drainage. |
What's different about plumbing in Perth
Mostly separate houses
At the 2021 Census, 77.8% of Greater Perth's occupied homes were separate houses, 14.2% townhouses, terraces or semis and 7.6% flats or apartments. 26.6% were rented, and Water Corporation puts leak repairs on the owner unless the rental agreement says otherwise.
Frost is rare, heat isn't
Perth Airport, with records from 1944, averages 0.2 days a year at 0°C or below and 28.8 days at 35°C or above. When a pipe leaks here, Water Corporation points to wear and tear, faulty fittings, ground movement or corrosion.
One garden in four runs on a bore
Water Corporation says 1 in 4 household gardens use groundwater through bores. A bore pump cross connected to the house's water pipes can push bore water back into the drinking supply, which is backflow. Keep the two systems apart.
Wet winters, garden rules
Perth Airport averages 153.5 mm of rain in June and 152.8 mm in July, against 10.2 mm in January. Sprinklers on scheme or bore water must stay off from 1 June to 31 August, though rainwater tank irrigation is exempt.
Checking a WA plumber
Look the plumber up on the WA Online Licence Search, run by Building and Energy. It covers plumbing and gas fitting, so one search checks both trades.
WA makes the number easy to find. A licensed plumbing contractor or permit holder must show the licence or permit number in any advertisement, including business cards and letterheads, and on quotes, invoices and receipts. Knowingly engaging an unlicensed person to do plumbing work is an offence, with a $5,000 penalty.
Homeowners may only do a short list: maintain a shower head, repair a tap that isn't a thermostatic mixer, swap a cistern washer or filter cartridge, and plunge a blocked fixture or waste pipe. Everything else needs a licensed plumber or permit holder.
Bigger jobs, like a new water heater or a backflow device, are major work. The contractor gives notice at least 24 hours before starting and owes you a certificate of compliance within five working days of finishing. See our guides to checking a licence and compliance certificates.
Perth pages by job and area
Pick the page for your problem: hot water, with separate pages on replacement, repairs and heat pumps; blocked drains; leak detection; pipe relining; gas fitting; commercial plumbing; or an emergency plumber.
Area pages cover places such as Joondalup, Fremantle, Rockingham, Midland, Armadale and the northern suburbs.
What we would do
Work out which side of the line the problem is on before anyone quotes. Sewage from a main, a leak on the roadside of the meter or a mains tap that won't close goes to Water Corporation first; inside your boundary, it's yours. Then read the licence number off the quote and check it yourself. If you have a bore, mention it, so any work on the garden or house pipes keeps bore water out of the drinking supply. Then let us match the job with a plumber who specialises in it.