This is a concept website · Enquire about this domain

Tanks, septics and floods, a guide by Dotto

Plumbing on the Hawkesbury · Richmond, New South Wales

A plain-language guide · Richmond, New South Wales

The rules behind plumbing on the Hawkesbury, NSW

Plumbing where the Hawkesbury rises

Richmond sits on the Hawkesbury River, in Hawkesbury City Council’s area. The council estimates its local government area has more than 9,000 on-site sewage management systems, and the valley has a long history of dangerous and deep flooding. These six guides set out the rules behind septic systems, tanks, bores, backflow and repairs after a flood, from the official pages that make them.

A guide published by Dotto about Richmond in New South Wales, not Richmond in Victoria or anywhere else. General information, not legal or technical advice.

A drawn flood gauge board standing at the river’s edge below a sandstone bank. Blue and green graduation marks without numbers run up the white board from the water. A dashed pale line near the top of the board is marked 2, the water surface is marked 1, and the middle of the board is marked 3. 2 1 3
  1. 1The water surface: the river at an ordinary height.
  2. 2The largest flood in the valley since European settlement came in 1867. It reached around 19 metres above normal river height at Windsor, on the Richmond and Windsor floodplain, according to the NSW State Emergency Service.
  3. 3Graduations, drawn here without numbers. This board is a picture made for this guide, not a working gauge, and it is not drawn to scale.
Drawn for this guide. The only recorded figure on it is the 1867 flood line, from the NSW SES. For flood levels at your own property, the SES points you to your local council.

Six guides, one mark each

Each answers one question from the official pages behind it, and links to them so you can read the rule itself.

  1. Waste waterSeptic and on-site sewageThe two council approvals every system needs, how Hawkesbury’s inspections work, and the habits that keep a septic system working.
  2. Roof waterA rainwater tank as the house’s supplyWhich uses need an inspection, what NSW Health says about drinking tank water, and where carted water should come from.
  3. Ground waterBores and groundwaterWhy a domestic bore needs a WaterNSW approval, who may drill it, the 2026–27 fees, and what NSW Health says about drinking it.
  4. Flood waterPlumbing after a Hawkesbury floodWhy this valley floods the way it does, the flood words on council pages, and what not to reconnect yourself.
  5. Mains waterBackflow and the second water supplyWhat Sydney Water requires when a block also has a tank, stormwater, greywater or a standpipe.
  6. ApprovalsChecking a plumber and the council’s approvalsWho inspects plumbing in which part of the Hawkesbury since 1 July 2026, and the papers the council expects.

Sewer, or a system of your own

Around Richmond, the wastewater from a block can go one of three ways, and each has its own rules.

  • Sydney Water’s sewer

    Sydney Water runs the wastewater system for Richmond and North Richmond, and is upgrading it, including a 7-kilometre pipeline to carry wastewater from North Richmond to the Richmond Water Resource Recovery Facility.

  • The former council scheme

    The council ran the Windsor Sewer Scheme, which serves more than 8,000 customers in Bligh Park, Clarendon, McGraths Hill, Mulgrave, Pitt Town, South Windsor, Vineyard, Windsor and Windsor Downs. From 1 July 2026, the council says, Sydney Water is responsible for those wastewater services.

  • An on-site system

    Where a block has its own septic tank, aerated system or similar, the council requires the system to be registered with it, and inspects it. How on-site systems are approved.

Not sure which applies to a property? The council asks you to call its Customer Service Centre on (02) 4560 4444.

Who looks after what

The public bodies behind the rules in these guides, and what each one does here.

Which Richmond this is

This guide is about Richmond in New South Wales, on the Hawkesbury River, where Hawkesbury City Council, Sydney Water, WaterNSW and the NSW Government set the rules. If you meant Richmond in Victoria, plumbing there runs under Victorian rules and bodies, and none of these pages apply.