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Understanding our Services

It's important to understand what responsibilities you have as a property owner for your water and sewerage system. 

Your Water Service

This diagram shows where Shoalhaven Water’s responsibility ends and the homeowner’s begin.

Water Services


Shoalhaven Water is responsible for everything up to and including the water meter. Should you notice a leak or wet boggy ground on your front kerb or under your water meter, contact us immediately and we will investigate and repair the problem.

It is the property owner’s responsibility to ensure that we have access to read the meter so that accurate accounts can be provided. Within the property, all pipes, taps, drains and backflow prevention devices that come from the water meter are the property owner’s responsibility.  

To find out more about your water meter, how to read a water meter, or how to identify if there is a leak on the property, simply follow this link to our Water Meter information page. 

What happens if illegal or unauthorised water services are found at the property?

If your water service is unauthorised, defective or has been illegally installed and we believe it could seriously affect our system we may ask you to fix the problem at your expense. If you do not fix the fault by the date we set, we may carry out the work and pass the cost on to you. 


Your Sewerage Service

This diagram shows where Council’s responsibility ends, and the homeowner’s begin.

Your Sewerage Service


Shoalhaven Water is responsible for operating and maintaining the extensive network of sewerage pipes that transports the wastewater from your property to our treatment plants.  

What happens if my drains become blocked?

If you experience a problem with your internal sewer system such as gurgling noises, sinks and toilets are slow to drain or there is an effluent overflow, call Shoalhaven Water before you call a plumber. We can assess if the problem lays in the Council mains or if the problem is somewhere within your property. If the problem is on Council’s side, we will unblock the sewer at our expense. 

As a property owner it is your responsibility to maintain or repair all the pipes inside your property through to the point of connection with our wastewater system. If we have investigated a blockage or overflow on your property and the problem is on your side, we will advise you to call a plumber. 

For more information on blocked sewers, visit our Sewer Blockages page.