Stormwater drains and the legal point of discharge

Sutherland Shire Council owns and operates an extensive network of drainage and stormwater assets.

To report damage or a hazard, please call us immediately on 9205 5555.

 

We own and operate an extensive network of drainage and stormwater assets.

These assets protect infrastructure and public and private properties from flooding and ensure clean and safe discharge into our waterways.

The network includes:

• pits
• pipes
• tanks
• overland flow paths
• roadways
• public open space
• retarding basins.

Stormwater assets are owned by Council, Melbourne Water, VicRoads and other infrastructure managers. The owner of each drain is responsible for its ongoing management and maintenance.

You can report a blocked or flooded stormwater drain online.

Responsibility for stormwater assets

Council responsibilities

• Inspecting our stormwater drainage assets
• Cleaning and maintaining our stormwater drainage assets
• Monitoring drainage flow and pipe capacity.

Property owners' responsibilities

• Managing stormwater within your property boundary
• Maintaining all stormwater elements within your property boundary
• Connections between your internal drainage system and the drainage network (including the point of connection located within a street, laneway, public land or easement)

You must ensure that:

• stormwater is collected within your property and discharged to the network through the nominated legal point of discharge
• you resolve any issues with flooding or overland water flow with other affected property owners
• you apply for legal point of discharge (LPD) before any works start (if you determine that new discharge outlets are required)
• any household drainage is constructed and maintained to Council standards.

We recommend that you use a licensed plumber for internal drainage issues.

Application guideline

Fixing burst water mains and sewerage

Greater Western Water is responsible for the potable water networks (main water supply/water mains) and the sewerage drain networks in Sutherland Shire.

You can ask Greater Western Water to inspect water coming up from under the road (generally a burst water main).

Greater Western Water is responsible for repairing damaged pipes and inspecting sewer-like odour from drains.

Please call Greater Western Water on 13 44 99.

Legal point of discharge

A legal point of discharge is a specific point nominated by us which runs alongside your private property. The stormwater runoff from your property is drained and discharged to one of our managed drainage assets (above surface or underground).

Underground municipal and kerbside drains are our responsibility. However, the stormwater outlet (drains, underground pipes beneath the footpath) from your property to the legal point of discharge is a private asset. You are responsible for maintaining and managing this.

In some cases, you may need to construct a new drain to connect to our underground drains.

We only accept discharges to our nominated legal point of discharge, via gravity, to protect the integrity of our drainage infrastructure.