Who regulates plumbing on the Central Coast

General information, not legal advice. The official places to check are Building Commission NSW’s list of local plumbing regulators and Central Coast Council’s plumbing and drainage page.

The state regulator

Building Commission NSW puts its role in one sentence: “Under the Plumbing and Drainage Act 2011, Building Commission NSW is the plumbing regulator in New South Wales.” The technical rules a job is measured against are the same everywhere in the state, because, in the commission’s words, “The Plumbing Code of Australia is the technical standard for compliance throughout NSW.”

What changes from place to place is who inspects. The commission says it is the plumbing regulator in each area that sets the requirements for inspecting on-site plumbing and drainage.

Why the Central Coast is not Sydney

The commission’s own area of operation covers every property that gets drinking water, recycled water or a sewerage service from Sydney Water or Hunter Water. The commission says that area stretches from Gerringong in the south to Newcastle, Port Stephens and Dungog in the north, and west to Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains.

Outside that area, the commission has delegated the regulator’s function to local councils, county councils and other qualified bodies, and councils across NSW have accepted it, apart from a small number that declined. Its list of local regulators has a second table for those areas, naming for each one the body that sets plumbing and drainage inspection requirements. For the Central Coast, that body is Central Coast Council.

The difference shows in the paperwork. For work that needs an inspection in Sydney, the Illawarra, the Blue Mountains, Newcastle and the Hunter, a plumber lodges the notice of work with the commission through its MyInspections Gateway. The other route is to the local plumbing regulator, on the Combined Notice of Work and Certificate of Compliance form, for the kinds of work that regulator requires to be inspected. That combined form, written by Building Commission NSW, carries copies for the licensee, the owner and the regulator.

Who does what on a Central Coast plumbing job (a selection, from the pages listed below)

The job	Who	Where it is stated
Plumbing regulator for the state	Building Commission NSW	The commission’s list of local regulators
Licences and certificates for plumbing, draining and gasfitting	Building Commission NSW	The commission’s licensing page
Setting inspection requirements for the Central Coast	Central Coast Council	The commission’s list of local regulators
Inspecting on-site plumbing work	Central Coast Council	Council’s plumbing and drainage page
Receiving the notice of work, certificate of compliance and drainage diagram	Central Coast Council	Council’s plumbing and drainage page
Keeping the register of testable backflow devices	Central Coast Council	Council’s backflow prevention page
Registering on-site sewage systems and approving their operation	Central Coast Council	Council’s on-site sewage page

What on-site plumbing work leaves out

The commission draws a boundary around the work its inspection rules cover: “Onsite plumbing and drainage work does not include stormwater, fire suppression, work on network utility assets or roof plumbing.” Stormwater on the Central Coast has a page of its own on Council’s site. If stormwater is being directed onto your property, Council’s page says you may report it to Council.

A council that is also the water authority

On the Central Coast the council that inspects is also the one that runs the water and sewer networks: Council’s water supply page lists drinking water, sewage collection and treatment, and recycled water among the services it runs across the local government area.

That second role shows up on the plumbing page too. A developer planning works near Council’s water or sewer mains has to meet Council’s Building In Proximity to Water and Sewer Pipelines Policy, and a fee applies where engineering plans need assessment by the Water Authority. Backflow prevention sits on the same page, framed by Council as a key part of protecting the community’s drinking water and public health.

What regional plumbers are told to ask

Building Commission NSW tells plumbers and drainers in regional NSW to keep dealing with their local council on three things: “inspection fees”, “mandatory inspections”, and “how paperwork is obtained and submitted”. For the areas in its second table it adds a recommendation: “It is always recommended that you also contact the relevant council/county council to ensure all inspection requirements have been identified”.

Which question goes where

• A licence or a licence category: Building Commission NSW. The licences guide sets out which licence each Council step names.
• An inspection, its fee, or the paperwork after a job: Central Coast Council, in the order its five inspection steps follow.
• A backflow device on the register: Central Coast Council, as the backflow guide sets out.
• A septic tank or other on-site system: Central Coast Council, through the approvals in the on-site sewage guide.