High front guttering advisory committee report - NSW Fair Trading ...

greywater diversion to be carried out without council approval in certain circumstances,
subject to compliance with the NSW Code of Practice;
• Water Management (Water Supply Authorities) Regulation 2004: requires water
services, sewerage services and plumbing work to comply with the Code of Practice;
• Water Industry Competition Act 2006: requires water meters connected to a licensee’s
water main and customer’s installations connecting to a licensee’s sewer main to comply
with the NSW Code of Practice.
In practice, Sydney Water, Hunter Water and local councils do not regulate roof plumbing.
However, we note that the terms of the relevant legislation, including the various definitions
of plumbing and drainage work, differ across legislative instruments and may cause
confusion. As part of the current reform of the regulatory framework for plumbing and
drainage as discussed below, it is proposed to clarify the current legislation to reflect present
regulatory practice.
Is there an inconsistency between the BCA and NSW Code of Practice?
No. The two Codes operate side by side, each regulating different types of work. Neither
has precedence over the other.
The fact that both the Building Code and the NSW Code of Practice are built on AS3500
does not in itself give rise to any inconsistency, as different parts of AS3500 apply to
different types of work.
The risks to consumers, the public, and the environment from faulty work in relation to
drinking water and the removal of sanitary waste are of a different scale than the risks of
faulty guttering. It is appropriate that these are regulated differently to ensure that regulatory
effort is focussed on areas of higher risk, and that red tape for industry and consumers is
minimised.
NSW Fair Trading when regulating roof plumbing work, applies the Building Code and not
the NSW Code of Practice, as the relevant test for determining whether the work meets the
required standards.
Proposed reforms to the plumbing regulatory framework in New South Wales
The Government has prepared a package of reforms to the plumbing regulatory framework
in New South Wales to streamline the system and apply consistent standards for work
across the State. As part of these reforms, NSW Fair Trading will become the single
regulator of on-site plumbing and drainage work in the State. At present, regulatory
responsibility sits with Sydney Water, Hunter Water and more than 100 other water utilities,
councils and county councils.
In addition, it is proposed to replace the NSW Code of Practice with the Plumbing Code of
Australia as the technical standard for plumbing and drainage work in New South Wales.
The Plumbing Code of Australia is a performance-based Code, which provides performance
requirements for plumbing and drainage work, while adopting AS 3500 as the ‘deemed to
satisfy’ solution. However, until such time as the reforms are in place, the NSW Code of
Practice will continue to operate as the technical standard for plumbing and drainage work.
A Bill giving effect to the reforms – the Plumbing Bill 2010 – was passed by the Legislative
Assembly on 25 November 2010 and introduced to the Legislative Council on 30 November
2010. No amendments were made to the Bill and it was not referred to a Parliamentary
Committee. The Bill did not proceed to debate in the Legislative Council before Parliament
rose for the year. It is anticipated that the reforms will proceed in 2011.
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