Sewerage / Sheet 5
Sewer smells and overflows at home
Greater Western Water’s advice: if live sewage is spilling, avoid any contact with it and call its Faults and Emergencies team on 13 44 99. A smell with no spill is often a dried-out trap or a blockage.
General information from the utilities’ and regulators’ own pages, listed at the foot of this page. Your own water utility and council set the rules for your property.
Staying safe around a spill
If anyone’s life is in danger, call 000 first, then the utility. Then, from WA’s Department of Health and the utilities:
- Stay out of the sewage and keep children, anyone without protective gear, and pets away from it.
- WA’s Department of Health says to turn off the power in the flooded area if any wires, extension cords, appliances or fittings could touch standing water or wet materials, at the switchboard or fuse box, or call a licensed electrician.
- Assume anything the wastewater touched is contaminated.
- If checking a sewer inspection shaft, stop at once if you feel pressure or see sewage, and call the utility’s emergency line.
- Use as little water as possible while a blockage is being cleared: hold off flushing and leave the washing machine and dishwasher off.
- Anyone cleaning wears rubber boots, rubber gloves and washable or disposable overalls, with cuts covered by waterproof dressings first. A wound that touches the wastewater is washed and disinfected straight away.
- Wash hands with soap and warm water before eating, change out of dirty clothes and wash them separately, and see a doctor promptly if anyone becomes ill.
- Leave any appliance the wastewater reached unplugged and switched off until a licensed electrician has checked it, because of the risk of electrocution.
- For a large spill inside, WA Health suggests a professional cleaning contractor. Water used for cleaning never goes into a stormwater drain.
- Keep children and pets off cleaned outdoor areas for at least 24 hours, and throw out leafy vegetables and soft fruit the wastewater touched.
Is it the home’s pipes or the utility’s?
Greater Western Water and South East Water deal with blockages in their own network and tell owners to call a plumber for a blockage in the property’s pipes. In WA, the Department of Health says it is an offence for an owner or occupier to clean or repair the drains and fittings on their property that connect to the sewer without their local government’s direction. Greater Western Water reads the clues at the overflow relief gully and inspection shaft in the yard:
- overflowing only while taps, toilets or showers are in use, or slow draining inside: likely the property’s pipes;
- overflowing even when no water is being used, or an inspection shaft full of water: likely the utility’s network.
If a plumber finds the fault is in the network, the plumber reports it to the utility. Greater Western Water may then reimburse the plumber’s fee in full, up to $500, as at October 2026. Renters go to their landlord or rental provider.
Utility equipment on a property
Safe Work Australia counts underground sewers, pits and tanks among confined spaces: places not designed for people, where the air can lack oxygen or hold gases. Its workplace rules call for an entry permit, a risk assessment and a standby person outside before a worker goes in.
Some fittings in a yard are there for owners to use. Hunter Water asks owners to check their sewer inspection shaft when a blockage is suspected, and to stop immediately if they feel any pressure or see an overflow or any sign of sewage. Others belong to the utility: Yarra Valley Water owns the sewer pipes, inspection shafts and maintenance holes it has in its area, often on private property. Icon Water says only it and its contractors may work on its assets, and South East Water asks owners not to move, adjust or fix any part of a pressure sewer system.
Who to call
Each utility’s own number, as listed on its own website on 8 October 2026. The utility to call is the one named on your water bill; if yours is not here, its faults line is on its own website.
| Utility | Area | Faults line |
|---|---|---|
| Greater Western Water | Its own service area | 13 44 99 |
| Yarra Valley Water | Melbourne’s northern and eastern suburbs | 13 27 62, 24 hours |
| South East Water | Melbourne’s south-east | 13 28 12 |
| Melbourne Water | Odour from its treatment plants and trunk sewers | 131 722, 24 hours |
| Hunter Water | The Lower Hunter, including sewer overflows on public land | 1300 657 000, 24 hours |
| Icon Water | Canberra | 02 6248 3111, option 1 |
A smell with no spill
Icon Water lists the usual causes: blocked vents or pipes, dry traps, and faults in its own network such as a dislodged lid or an overflow. Sometimes the smell has nothing to do with sewers at all, and comes from wetlands, bins, portable toilets, cooking, animals or building work.
Dry traps
A trap holds water that stops drain gases coming into the house. A drain left unused for a long time, or a cracked pipe, can let it dry out. Icon Water suggests running water down the drain for a few minutes, and calling a licensed plumber if the smell stays.
Smells from a treatment plant
Melbourne Water wants odour reports by phone, made while the smell is there, and asks for the location, how long it has lasted, the wind direction if known, and what it smells like. WA’s Department of Health says sewage odours are unpleasant but not a direct health concern.
For the bigger picture of what blocks pipes in the first place, see what not to flush.