A homeowner’s plumbing guide for South Yarra
Who looks after which pipe, who to ring when one bursts, and how to check the person you let in to fix it. This is an independent guide, not a plumbing business: there is no plumber behind it and no one to call here. Every page points to the official body that can actually help.
- Cold water
- Hot water
- House drain
- 1TheirsThe water main in the street.
- 2TheirsThe pipe from the street to the meter.
- 3TheirsThe water meter: the dividing point for water.
- 4The stop tap near the meter, which turns off the supply to the house.
- 5YoursEvery pipe from the meter to the house, including the garden tap.
- 6YoursThe hot water system and its pipes, inside the house.
- 7YoursThe house drain and its fixtures, up to the connection.
- 8The connection with South East Water’s sewer branch. A property sewerage plan shows where the sewerage pipes are on your property.
- 9TheirsThe sewer branch and the sewer.
- 10Tree roots, which find their way into pipes looking for water.
Photo by Albert Stoynov on Unsplash
Whose pipe is it?
South Yarra sits inside the service region of South East Water, on the boundary map the corporation publishes for its customers. It is one of three water corporations serving metropolitan Melbourne, with Greater Western Water and Yarra Valley Water. If your street is close to the edge of a service area, the map on South East Water’s “Who we serve” page lets you check your address.
For drinking water, the line is the meter. South East Water is responsible for the meter and the pipes from the street to it; the property owner is responsible for the pipes from the meter to the house, garden tap included. In a block of units with check meters, South East Water looks after only the physical meter, not the pipes or stop taps on that network.
For sewage, the line is the connection. A property owner is responsible for the pipes and plumbing fixtures up to the connection with South East Water’s sewer branch.
When water is where it should not be
For a major burst, a sewer issue or an emergency. Answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Anything smaller starts with one question: which side of the meter is the leak on? If it is on the property side, the owner arranges the repair with a licensed plumber; turning off the stop tap near the meter while you wait limits the water lost. If a burst pipe or a sewer spill has damaged your home, South East Water suggests contacting your insurance company straight away.
Sheet 01 walks through it step by step, including the meter test for a leak you cannot see.
The six sheets
Each sheet answers one question a South Yarra householder is likely to ask, from the official sources only.
| Sheet | Title | What it answers |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Who to call for a burst pipe | Street, meter or house: whose leak it is and who fixes it. |
| 02 | Checking a plumber is licensed | Registration, licence, classes and the public register. |
| 03 | Compliance certificates | When a plumber must give you one, and what it should say. |
| 04 | Hot water systems in Victoria | Heat pump, solar or gas, and the rebate as at October 2026. |
| 05 | Blocked drains and tree roots | Your drain or the sewer, and what can be claimed back. |
| 06 | Older homes and old pipes | Brown water, blue water, lead and the 2026 lead-free rule. |
Four checks before anyone picks up a spanner
- Look them up. Victoria’s plumbing regulator is now the Building and Plumbing Commission (BPC). Its public search shows whether a plumber’s registration or licence is current, what work it covers and any conditions on it. How to check, on sheet 02.
- Registered or licensed? Both may do plumbing work in their classes, but only a licensed plumber can issue a compliance certificate.
- Over $750, a certificate. A licensed plumber must issue a compliance certificate when the total value of the work, counting materials, appliances, labour and GST, is over $750, and for some work whatever it costs. What it covers, on sheet 03.
- Ask to see the card. Registered and licensed plumbers must carry their BPC practitioner ID card while they work and show it on request; the back lists their classes.
Old terraces, newer rules
The heritage statements for a row and a pair of South Yarra terraces describe houses built for middle-class residents during the boom years of the 1880s and early 1890s. A heritage record describes a house, not what runs inside its walls today.
What the water corporation and the health authorities do say: brown water can come from ageing galvanised iron pipes on a property, blue or green water from corroding copper, and from 1 May 2026 copper alloy plumbing products installed in Victoria for drinking water must be lead-free.