Maintenance and Responsibilities

Maintaining the roof and roof gutters

Part of your roof is used as the catchment to South East Water’s rainwater tank and rain-to-hot water system. You are responsible for maintaining your roof and gutters including those within the roof catchment area.

You must not make any modifications to that part of the roof area that feeds the rain-to-hot water system. Modifications could include things like installing a TV antenna or satellite dish. These can be installed on other areas of the roof where rainwater doesn’t flow to the rainwater tank.

Maintaining the regular hot water system 

A separate hot water unit will supply drinking water for hot water use in the kitchen sinks and bathroom basins throughout the home. You’re responsible for maintaining and replacing this unit (where necessary).  You’re also responsible for installing and maintaining internal hot water piping to fixtures within the home from the two hot water units. The Aquarevo Design Guidelines has set out these requirements for your builder.

Letting us know if you’re planning a renovation 

As with any property in our service region, you’ll need to make an application for any renovation that will impact any connection to our assets. We’ll assess your plans and give you advice to make sure the water saving features and technology in the house are still connected and you’re getting the benefit of these. 

Maintaining the internal plumbing 

Internal plumbing fixtures for items such as the toilet, sinks, taps, shower, etc. are your responsibility to maintain and repair when necessary. With the exception of the water-saving initiatives listed above as our responsibility, we consider ‘internal plumbing’ as any plumbing on your property’s side of the water meters in your front garden. It’s important to always hire a licensed plumber for any plumbing works. 

The below systems are South East Water property, and we’ll look after them. 

• Rainwater tank  
• Rain-to-hot water system, which includes the heat pump and the connecting pipework between the rainwater tank and the hot water unit. This supplies non-drinking water for baths and showers, laundry sink and washing machine.   
• Rainwater filter and UV treatment unit 
• Dedicated downpipe and associated fittings in relation to the rainwater catchment 
• OneBox+® technology for controlling the water and sewerage system 
• Gas check meters and Ubi electricity monitoring system (where installed) 
• TankTalk® rainwater tank technology that collects forecast data from the Bureau of Meteorology 
• Pressure sewerage system (pod and pump unit). 

These systems are our property and we’ll look after them for 10 years from the date of installation.

Uauthorised modifications or removal of equipment to the system may result in charges to the customer.

• Pressure sewer pod and pipes from the pod to the sewer main on the street. These assets are owned and maintained by SEW for the asset lifespan.
• The rainwater tank, hot water unit, and connecting pipe work between the rainwater tank and the hot water unit, which supplies non-drinking water for baths and showers, the laundry sink and washing machine.
• The rainwater filter and UV treatment unit.
• Rainwater tank technology that collects forecast data from the Bureau of Meteorology.
• The dedicated downpipe to the leaf catcher.
• OneBox+® technology for controlling the water and sewerage system.

These systems are our property and we’ll look after them for 10 years from the date of installation.

Once a year we’ll visit to undertake maintenance on most of these assets. We also remotely monitor the assets, so we know if we need to come and do repairs outside of the routine maintenance schedule.

We’ll also sample water from the rain-to-hot water system. If you’re one of the properties we want to sample for water sampling, we’ll always contact you beforehand.

For a breakdown of all the parts we'll maintain and how often, see the table in the section below. 

When we plan on visiting your house to perform some maintenance, we’ll get in touch with you at least seven days before to let you know we’re coming. You may hear from us via email, letter or SMS.

We ask that you restrain any dogs or pets in the backyard, for the safety of both our crew and your pets.