What shapes plumbing in Maroubra
Randwick City Council
Maroubra is in Randwick City Council's area, alongside Malabar, Matraville, Chifley and Kingsford.
A real mix of homes
At the 2021 Census, 48.5% of occupied homes were flats or apartments, 20.9% semis, terraces or townhouses and 29.6% separate houses. 42.5% were rented.
Maroubra Bay catchment
Council studied flooding in the Maroubra Bay catchment in 2013 and exhibited a draft flood risk plan, with a flood affected area map, in 2016.
Birds Gully catchment
A second study, run with Bayside Council and adopted on 25 September 2018, covers a catchment where Council collected flooding experiences from Randwick, Maroubra and Matraville.
Is your block in a flood area?
Council has mapped flood affected land in the Maroubra Bay catchment. Before you spend money on drainage, ask Randwick City Council what its studies show for your address.
Rain belongs in the stormwater system, never the sewer. Sydney Water says rainwater and stormwater must not enter a property's wastewater pipes, and local councils run the street gutters your downpipes feed. If a gully overflows every storm, a plumber can check whether a downpipe has been plumbed into the sewer. See stormwater for what's involved.
Semis and shared lines
In a semi or a row of townhouses, one private sewer line can serve more than one home. Sydney Water's rule is simple: each owner who shares a joint private service is responsible for it. So a blockage in the shared section is a conversation with your neighbour, not just a bill.
Before a big drainage job, get the sewer service diagram. It shows the private wastewater pipes and where they join Sydney Water's system, and plumbers use it when fixing private wastewater pipes. See pipe relining in Sydney.
Trees and your sewer
Randwick's Significant Tree Register, endorsed on 22 September 2026, now lists almost 800 trees across the council area. Ask Council before any root work near a large tree.
Sydney Water says roots get in through small cracks, and advises against planting trees within 6 metres of wastewater pipes. Its list of trees to avoid includes figs, jacarandas, liquidambars, lilly pillies, brush box and camphor laurel. For roots already in the line, see tree roots in drains.
What we would do
Order your property's sewer service diagram before any big drainage job. It shows where your private pipes run and where they meet Sydney Water's system, which saves digging in the wrong place. If you share a line with the other half of a semi, talk to your neighbour before the plumber arrives, because the cost of the shared section is shared too. Then let us match you with a plumber who specialises in drains.