Fitzroy River Water and your house drain
Rockhampton Regional Council provides water and sewerage through Fitzroy River Water (FRW). Its policy calls the pipes on your property house drains: privately owned sewers that carry sewage from homes and businesses into the council network.
FRW doesn't work on house drains or clear blockages in them, because that would put it in competition with private plumbers. If you ring about what sounds like a house drain fault, council staff work through a standard questionnaire and point you to a private plumber. If the fault looks like it's in council's sewer, FRW's crews come out instead and clear it without charging you.
When your plumber finds the blockage in council's sewer
| What the policy says | What it means for you | |
|---|---|---|
| Telling council | The plumber must contact council immediately so FRW can verify the location and cause. | Make that a condition of the job. A claim without it won't qualify. |
| Reimbursement | Up to a maximum of $400 once FRW verifies the blockage is in its sewer, claimed on FRW's reimbursement form with the receipted invoice. | It covers the plumber's assessment. Larger claims are considered case by case. |
| Not covered | Work on the house drain, machine hire, materials, reinstatement, and extra labour when the drain can't be reached, such as items over the inspection opening. | Keep inspection openings clear and uncovered. |
| If the plumber is wrong | If the blockage turns out to be in the house drain, council recovers all its costs at FRW's private works charges. | Ask for camera evidence before anyone calls council out. |
Rockhampton facts that change a plumbing job
One river, two towns
The Rockhampton water supply scheme draws on the Fitzroy River and supplies Rockhampton and Gracemere. Some Livingstone Shire communities are also partly or fully served by council-run water infrastructure.
The odd cold morning
Rockhampton Aero averages 1.0 day a year at 2°C or below, mostly in July, and has dropped to -1.0°C. Cold enough to notice, rarely cold enough to freeze.
Houses on their own blocks
At the 2021 Census, 88.1% of occupied homes in the Rockhampton council area were separate houses and only 4.5% flats or apartments. 32.1% were rented.
Sewer chokes on the council side
In its 2025 figures to the state, council reported 69 sewer main breaks and chokes over 762 km of main, or 9.1 per 100 km, and 78 water main breaks.
Natural gas in Rockhampton
Rockhampton is one of the places on the Queensland Government's list of natural gas distribution networks, and the Queensland Gas Pipeline runs here from Wallumbilla. Your bill names your distributor. A home without a mains connection can use LPG instead, and appliances need different burners for each gas. See Rockhampton gas fitters.
Checking a Rockhampton plumber
FRW's own policy defines a private plumber as one holding a QBCC plumbing and drainage licence. Check the business on the QBCC licensee register and the tradesperson on the occupational plumber and drainer register, both in myQBCC. Our guide to licence checks walks through it.
A licensee's ads, online ones included, must carry the licensed name and licence number. Notifiable work is registered with the QBCC within 10 business days of your invoice.
Rockhampton specialists
Start with the page for your job: hot water or gas fitting. For drains, our blocked drains guide covers the steps, and the FRW rules above tell you who pays.
What we would do
With a blocked drain, book a plumber who clears drains every week and agree up front that they'll ring council the moment they think it's in the sewer, not after they've cleared it. Ask for camera footage either way. Keep your inspection openings uncovered: FRW won't pay for labour spent getting to a buried one. And check the plumber in myQBCC before work starts, the same as you would anywhere.