• inspection of our stormwater drainage assets
• cleaning and maintaining our stormwater drainage assets
• monitoring drainage flow and pipe capacity.

You as the property owner are responsible for managing the stormwater accumulating within your property. Stormwater must be collected within your property and discharged to our drainage network in accordance with the nominated legal point of discharge advice obtained from Yarra City Council.

You are responsible for maintaining all stormwater elements within your property boundary as well as the connections between your internal drainage system to our drainage network. This includes the point of connection located within a street, laneway, public land or an easement.

Issues with flooding or overland flow of water between private properties must be resolved between property owners. Resolution may require drainage works to be carried out on both properties. Should new discharge outlets be required as part of any resolution, then an application for legal point of discharge (LPD) to be to be made with Council for the review prior to any works. We are not responsible for managing drainage issues or disputes between private properties.

Council does not have a legal liability to maintain, repair or inspect household drainage infrastructure. Property owners must ensure that any household drainage is constructed and maintained to Council standards.

We recommend property owners use a licensed plumber for internal drainage issues.

Greater Western Water is responsible for the potable water networks in Yarra (main water supply/water mains) and the sewerage drain networks in Yarra.

A request can be made to Greater Western Water for inspecting water coming up from under the road (generally a burst water main). This includes the responsibility for repairing the damaged pipe and inspecting sewer like odour that comes from drains. 

To contact Greater Western Water please phone 13 44 99.

For this type of development, the only options for the legal point of discharge are:

• Connecting directly to the existing internal drainage system, subject to our approval.
  • i.e. If the proposal is to retain and utilise the existing stormwater discharge outlet of the property.
• Creating a second connection to an above ground discharge location, i.e. kerb or laneway surface.
  • The discharge must be restricted to 10 L/s and connection must be approved by us.
  • Refer to YSD103 (PDF) and YSD104 (PDF) for our standards of kerb connections.
  • Discharge outlets to laneways must sit flush within your private boundary at a height of no more than 150mm from surface level.

Please note: We will only accept discharge via gravity to the legal point of discharge.

You are required to prepare and submit design plans based on this information for your application. This includes lodging all of the following documents:

• Copy of existing title plan
• Dimensioned site plan- must show total area of property lot in square metres
• Copy of feature/level survey plan
• Internal civil stormwater plans, including:
  • Water sustainable urban design (WSUD) systems (rainwater tanks)
  • Downpipes, pits and pump-well
  • Ground floor plans showing connection to legal point of discharge.

Additionally, you must lodge the following if your proposal includes one of the following:

• Copy of Planning Permit - if you are applying for building works lodged after obtaining a Planning Permit
• Copy of Endorsed Drawings from Town Planning (if applicable)
• Copy of Endorsed STORM rating report (if applicable)
• Melbourne Water Flood Level advice (if applicable)
• Build Over Easement Permission - if you are seeking approval to build over easement.
• Geotech report with groundwater table data and basement plan details - if your property has or will have a basement.

Once you’ve prepared the required documents, you can apply for your legal point of discharge: 

Lodge your application online

Please allow 10-15 business days to receive a response. This timeframe may be longer if we don't receive all required documentation.

For these development types, you must go through a two-step process:

1. Pre-application process - Upon receiving the mandatory documents, we will advise the drainage requirements for the development through a further information request letter, including a list of documentation required for assessment.  
2. Legal point of discharge assessment - The developer/designer must submit all the details requested by us for a final detailed design assessment.

For the purposes of pre-application, applicants must have applied for a planning permit or have preliminary site design of the proposed development. 

All applications must be lodged with the following information:

• Copy of title plan
• Dimensioned site plan- must show total area of property lot in square metres
• Copy of detailed feature / level survey plan showing all existing utilities and services including and around the subject site.
• Plan view of existing property layout
  • Total hard surface area (m²)
  • Total soft surface area (m²)
• Plan view of proposed property layout
  • Total hard surface area (m²)
  • Total soft surface area (m²)

Additionally, you must provide the following if the scope of your development is triggered by the below:

• Copy of Planning Permit (if applicable)
• Melbourne Water Flood Level Advice - if subject site is within a flood overlay 
• Build Over Easement Permission (if applicable)
• Geotech report with groundwater table data and basement plan details  - if basements are part of the property.

Once you’ve prepared the required documents, you can apply for your legal point of discharge: 

Lodge your application online

Visit the Yarra Standard Drawings page to find our Standard Drawings

Yarra Standard Drawings

As part of the assessment of the legal point of discharge CCTV footage of the surround drainage assets may be requested for larger building sites.  If cleaning is required this will be paid for and carried out by us. Post works footage is required to confirm drains have been protected during the works.

You will be required to submit CCTV footage that meets the following standard:

• Survey video will be captured using a mainline tractor unit and not a pushrod camera system
• Coding of the pipes will meet WSA 05-2013 Conduit Inspection Reporting Code of Australia Version 3.1 standard using Wincan coding software
• A map will be produced outlining any existing and any new drainage found.

Council doesn't have information of exact location and depth of drains and pits.

A stormwater asset map can be provided upon request to show the indicative details.

You need to apply for a LPD if there are any design changes proposed to the stormwater catchment design within the title boundary.

This includes any modifications of the roofline, gutters, downpipes, pits, pipes, detention tanks, rain gardens to the LPD.

Refurbishment and maintenance works of stormwater drains don't need to apply.