A guide from Sydney Surveyor Solutions: finding the pipes on your block before your plans go in.
Sydney Water says that if you need building approval from a council or certifier,
you need its approval too, and that anyone planning to build or excavate needs its approval before work starts.
You apply online through Sydney Water Tap in, and your plans have to show where your works sit against Sydney Water's pipes.
The approval list covers houses, granny flats, pools, sheds, decks, fences, driveways, landscaping and retaining walls, as well as excavation, demolition and changes to the ground.
Several documents show the pipes.
Before You Dig Australia, or BYDA, gives free plans of the assets in the area.
A service location diagram from Tap in shows Sydney Water's pipes on the property, but Sydney Water says it only indicates that the pipes are there.
It doesn't pinpoint the exact physical location.
A sewer service diagram shows the private wastewater pipes on the property, but not pools.
For complex projects, Sydney Water points to a service protection report.
Only a Sydney Water listed Service Protection Reporter can prepare one, and it pegs out the pipes on site so they can be plotted onto your plans.
We are not on that list.
The block itself is a separate job.
Your designer draws your works against the boundaries, the ground levels and what can be seen on the ground,
including the access covers that Sydney Water's maintenance structures usually have at ground level.
A survey of your block records these.
It does not locate a buried pipe.
When you lodge in Tap in, plans that do not affect Sydney Water's assets get immediate on-screen approval.
Sydney Water says it approves around 70% of building plans automatically.
Plans that affect its pipes are referred to a water servicing coordinator.
If a detailed review is needed, Sydney Water says it generally sends its conditions within 42 days.
Sydney Water will consider certain structures over sewers of 300 mm and smaller.
It will not allow building over pressure pipes, connection points, maintenance structures or sewers wider than 750 mm.
Drawing up plans for Sydney Water and council?
Send us the address and a short note about your project, and we will tell you which survey your designer needs and send a free quote.
Or call (02) 5114 2551.
This is general information, not plumbing, engineering or legal advice.