Responsibility for Storm Water Pipe Under Nature Strip?

Lmarkrule on 06/10/2022 - 22:44

I’ve had ongoing issues with the storm water pipe which is running from my house to the gutter. There has been a number of blockages in the pipe caused by a large tree on the nature strip and these blocks in the pipe have caused flooding around my house as the water cannot get out. I’ve had these blocks cleared by a plumber (a few times) but they have advised that the roots from the tree will continue to cause further future blockages. They said these blockages are occurring under the nature strip where the pipe changes to terracotta (it’s PVC on my side of the footpath).

In order to get this properly fixed I have been advised by the plumber to have the old terracotta pipe under the nature strip replaced. Problem is this is likely to cost thousands due to the length and depth of the pipe. The council have said that stormwater is not their responsibility and is the responsibility of the owner from the house all the way to the gutter. The kicker is that i need to get a permit from the council to do the works to fix it on their land.

Is it true that councils (Victoria) have no responsibility for stormwater in nature strips? Is there any other way around this?

Thanks.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • Benoffie on 06/10/2022 - 23:51
    +5

    In SA, the property owner is responsible for stormwater discharge to the street (Legal Point of Discharge
    - LPOD). Assume Victoria would be the same?

  • Elppa8 on 06/10/2022 - 23:56
    +2

    I would say they are correct. They do however have responsibility for the tree and damage to your infrastructure. A letter and billing from the plumber may help. In my case in NSW it was sewage, all I needed was a case number from the water authority and tree was gone.

  • Porker on 07/10/2022 - 03:52
    +5

    In VIC, yes the owner is responsible for the storm water connection (installation) to the legal point of discharge (LPD), and yes you would likely need multiple permits to perform the work.

    Permits would possibly be a 'road opening permit' and a 'road occupancy permit'.

    However, at request, Council may sometimes clean the pipes from gutter to property as this is within their land. This maintenance is different to installation mentioned above.

    If the roots are from a Council tree then you may be able to seek compensation, but the roots could be from a private tree too from within a private property and which have extended into the road reservation. You'll need to prove the origin.

    • Muzeeb on 07/10/2022 - 09:12
      +2

      You actually sound like you know what you are talking about. Quite rare on these forums.

      • JoeBogan on 07/10/2022 - 18:20

        Hey Muzeeb can you check a Dell order for me and get it re-ordered? I need to change my shipping address.

    • HardQuiz on 07/10/2022 - 10:24

      How do you prove problematic roots belong to which tree ?

      • Porker on 07/10/2022 - 11:35
        +1

        It'd be site specific response. Eg. if there's only one tree in the area, then likely that tree. But you're right, short of digging up the area, it's hard to say which tree the root belongs to. But if anyone is going to approach you and say that your 'something' damaged their something, in most if not all cases, you'd need/want to review their evidence before accepting liability.

    • markrule on 07/10/2022 - 19:50

      Thanks Porker. I might have to try the compensation route. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

  • EightImmortals on 07/10/2022 - 07:20

    "The kicker is that i need to get a permit from the council …"

    hahaha, what a bloody surprise, did they tell you much this extortion, errm 'permit' was going to cost you for you to fix the thing they are denying responsibility for?

    • Davo1111 on 07/10/2022 - 11:04

      you make it sound like it was their problem to deal with from the start - and then they turned it back on you

  • Rako on 07/10/2022 - 07:51
    +1

    Stormwater pipes generally are not very deep under the surface & discharge out through a hole in the gutter, is there a footpath? If not & it's just grass I can't see why you need a council permit. Talk to another plumber.

    • markrule on 07/10/2022 - 19:52

      This one is quite deep. Might be to do with the large gradient of the nature strip and how low the gutter is. There is a footpath unfortunately and under that is where the PVC changes to terracotta.

      • bloom on 08/10/2022 - 19:48
        +2

        I changed mine from terracotta to PVC by hand because of constant blockages… cancel your gym membership

        https://ibb.co/6Z6ck5V

        • markrule on 09/10/2022 - 19:39

          Interesting. Thanks for the pic. Makes sense why the roots are coming through around each metre. Must be getting through the joins. May have to quit the gym and join the chiro.

  • onetwothreefour on 07/10/2022 - 08:50
    +3

    Buy a trenching shovel and spend a day doing it yourself. I've replaced mine before and it's very easy, although mine is PVC, not terracotta.

    • markrule on 07/10/2022 - 19:53

      Thanks may consider this. Got time on my hands.

  • brad1-8tsi on 07/10/2022 - 10:10
    +1

    It's your pipe unfortunately.

    It can't be that deep (300mm max) or that long (3m?).

    Have you considered relining the terracotta or slipping a PVC pipe into the terracotta?

    • markrule on 07/10/2022 - 19:54

      Yeah this one is deeper than the standard. I dug down a few feet+ just to reach the top of it. Old area and sloping nature strip. I’ll look into relining or putting PVC in. Thanks

  • JimmyF on 07/10/2022 - 11:01
    +1

    In order to get this properly fixed I have been advised by the plumber to have the old terracotta pipe under the nature strip replaced.

    The issue with old pipes like terracotta is they have such large joins roots can easily get in, compared to glued PVC pipe.

    One option might be to look at getting the terracotta pipe section relined/sleeved. This removes the digging up issue/permits etc

    • markrule on 07/10/2022 - 19:54

      Thanks Jimmy I’ll look into it

      • JimmyF on 07/10/2022 - 20:18
        +1

        Not sure what the price will be like, just an option to at least have a look into if you don't want to go down the permit/digging route.

        Best of luck!!

        • markrule on 09/10/2022 - 19:37

          Much appreciated

  • GordonD on 07/10/2022 - 14:04

    The problem I had was that because the land sloped down to the gutter so it would drain, close to the gutter there was almost zero depth of soil over the stormwater pipe, and trucks driving over it to get into the council reserve were repeatedly damaging the pipe, causing the drain to back up and flood my garage. Including the council's own trucks.

    The council's solution was to tell me to replace the normal PVC pipe from my property line out to the gutter with steel pipe, and that meanwhile they'd send out a guy with one those flexible plastic reflective posts and hammer it in beside the stormwater.

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