Water supply and sewerage utilities in NSW are responsible for regulating plumbing and sanitary drainage work carried out in premises connected to their water supply and sewerage infrastructure.
The utilities are:
- Sydney Water
- Hunter Water
- Sydney Olympic Park Authority
- Essential Energy, Broken Hill
- Gosford City Council
- Wyong Shire Council
- Hawkesbury City Council
- All local and county councils that provide water supply and sewerage services (these are usually located outside the areas of operations of the foregoing utilities)
- Utilities licensed under the Water Industry Competition Act 2006.
Work on plumbing and sanitary drainage connected to the networks of utilities must be approved by the relevant utility. The relevant utility may inspect the work to ensure that it complies with the New South Wales Code of Practice for Plumbing and Drainage. The person doing the work must certify compliance with this Code.
NSW Code of Practice for plumbing and drainage
This Code (PDF 2 MB) is commonly referred to as the NSW Plumbing Code. The technical requirements for all plumbing and drainage activities are set out in this Code.
When there are changes to the Australian/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 3500, amendments to the NSW Plumbing Code are generally required. The Committee on Uniformity of Plumbing and Drainage Regulations in NSW (CUPDR) issues circulars to notify industry and regulators of these changes, or any other state-based changes agreed by CUPDR. These circulars are available on the Plumbing and drainage circulars page.
Review of arrangements for regulating plumbing and drainage in NSW
The Better Regulation Office and the former Department of Water and Energy reviewed the plumbing regulatory framework in 2009 and recommended that NSW adopt the Plumbing Code of Australia. Legislation is presently being prepared to enable the Plumbing Code of Australia to apply in NSW.
The review report, as well as the discussion paper released for public comment in 2008 and the submissions on it are available on the plumbing review page.
Technical inquiries
On 29 March 2010, Sydney Water's Plumbing Inspection and Assurance Service (PIAS) transferred to the Office of Fair Trading.
Technical advice for plumbing work within Sydney Water's area of operations is available between 8am and 2pm, Monday to Friday on 1300 889 099. Alternatively, technical enquiries can be emailed any time to PIAStechnical@services.nsw.gov.au and a response will be emailed within two working days. Please provide your telehone contact details within your email enquiries.
Technical inquiries regarding plumbing work outside Sydney Water's area of operations should be directed to the local water supply and sewerage utility.