Where the council's drain ends
The council owns every main sewer pipe, on public or private land. It also owns the connection pipe on public land, from the main up to an inspection point at your boundary. From that inspection point back to the house, the connection pipe is the property owner's, and so is the bill if that section breaks or is damaged.
On the water side, your meter is usually in a box near the front boundary, and leaks on your own property are yours to fix. The council's contact centre answers 24 hours a day, every day, on 09 430 4200 or 0800 932 463.
A slow or blocked drain in Whangārei
Contact the council straight away
It wants to hear about blocked or slow-flowing drains on your property promptly, and it investigates the public sewer without charging you.
If the public sewer is at fault
The main sewer and the connection pipe on public land are the council's, so a fault there is the council's to deal with.
If it's your private drain
You engage a plumber or drainlayer to clear it. And if a failure in your private drain caused a blockage in the public sewer, the council can recover its costs from you.
Whangārei facts that change a plumbing job
Damper homes than average
At the 2023 Census, 20% of Whangārei District dwellings were sometimes damp and 3.1% always damp, against 15.8% and 2.3% nationally. Mould bigger than an A4 sheet was always present in 5%. Slow leaks under floors and behind walls are worth chasing early in a house that's already damp.
Smoke from the drains
The council smoke-tests its sewers to find where stormwater gets in. Smoke from a roof vent pipe is normal; smoke inside the house may point to a plumbing fault. Dry traps in little-used floor and bathroom drains can let it in.
Downpipes don't belong in gully traps
Low-lying gully traps and roof downpipes are the main ways rain gets into Whangārei's sewers, the council says, and spouting should never drain into a gully trap.
When the CBD flooded
NIWA records that in late July 2008, the first of two big storms in a week left Whangārei's CBD streets knee-deep in water. Keep gutters and outside drains clear before heavy rain.
Licences, and council approval on top
PGDB warns that some people advertise plumbing, gasfitting and drainlaying without being licensed or authorised, and that your insurance may be void if unlicensed work goes wrong. Ask to see the person's practising licence, on a card or in the PGDB app, then search their first and last name on the PGDB register and check the licence is current and covers the trade.
For any connection to the council's sewer or stormwater, there's a second check. The council approves its own registered and licensed contractors, and only a council-licensed contractor may connect to live mains. Our licence check guide covers the PGDB side, and Whangārei drainlayers covers the council's.
Whangārei pages
Jobs: drainlayers in Whangārei and Whangārei gasfitting, plus our guides to hot water cylinders, blocked drains, septic tanks and emergency plumbers. Further north: Kerikeri and Kaitāia.
What we would do
For a slow or blocked drain, ring the council on 09 430 4200 before you book anyone, and let it check the public sewer. If it says the problem is in your private drain, that's when a plumber or drainlayer comes in. While they're there, ask whether any downpipe runs into a gully trap, and check their name on the PGDB register before the work starts.