Uralla Shire Council provides sewerage collection and treatment systems for the Uralla and Bundarra townships.
The sewerage network comprises your property drain, its connection to the Council main, junctions, manholes, pump stations and the sewerage treatment plant.
Everything that goes down the drain in your kitchen, bathroom or laundry is wastewater, “black water” or sewerage. It is all collected in the sewer network and transported to the Uralla sewerage treatment plant on Rifle Range Road, or to the Bundarra sewer treatment plant on Mount Drummond Road. The sewerage networks are not designed to collect stormwater.
At the sewerage treatment plants all wastewater is processed to environmental and health standards and released back into the catchment.
Your home is connected to the Council sewer system through the house drain. Property owners are responsible for maintenance and repairs of the drain within their property up to the connection point with Council's sewer network (the property sewer junction).
Uralla Shire Council is responsible for the network to the first junction within a property as well as the maintenance of the treatment plant, pipes, and pumping stations that transport and treat sewage.
To locate the sewer mains/house drains located on your property, please submit a Planning Certificate Application form and select "drainage diagram". This form is available through our Applications Forms page.
To avoid blockages in the sewer network - either on your property or elsewhere - you should only flush the three P’s down your loo: Poo, Pee and Paper (toilet paper). Anything else should be disposed of in an appropriate bin.
Do not flush cotton buds, sanitary items/incontinence pads, dental floss, hair, food, oils, medications, kitty litter, syringes, razor blades, dead fish, paints, chemicals or pesticides down the toilet.
Wet wipes should never be flushed down the toilet. Wet wipes do not break down in the sewerage system and contribute to pipe blockages. Blockages in turn can lead to sewerage overflows. Blockages and overflows can happen on your property or elsewhere in the network.
Council asks that residents do not plant trees over sewer mains on their property.
Residents are encouraged to contact Council if they observe a sewage overflow. Reports of an overflow can be made during business hours to the Uralla Shire Council office on (02) 6778 6300. Outside business hours, residents can contact the Water/Sewer Services Operators directly on 0427 784 304.
If you are not connected to the sewer network you will need to install a wastewater treatment system on your property.
Wastewater disposal systems are installed in the ground and use bacteria to treat solids, grease and fats that come from the toilet, bathroom, kitchen and laundry. Wastewater management systems reduce the volume of solids and prepare sewerage for disposal: they do not purify sewage.
"On-site wastewater management system" is a collective term referring to septic tanks, pump-outs, composting toilets, aerated septic systems and grey water diversion systems.
More information, including applying for approval to install a wastewater treatment system, is available on our On-site Sewage Management System page here.
Please contact Council to apply for a sewer connection. Follow this link to view the current financial year Fees and Charges for a new sewer connection.
The Uralla Sewerage Treatment Plant is licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Protection of Environment Operations Act 1997. The Environmental Protection Licence for the facility is EPL 1626. Members of the public can view details of the licence at: https://apps.epa.nsw.gov.au/prpoeoapp/
As a licensee, Uralla Shire Council is required to prepare a Pollution Incident Response Management Plan and undertake a water quality monitoring regime.
View or download the Uralla Shire Council Water and Sewer Pollution Incident Response Management Plan and the Uralla Sewer Treatment Plant Water Quality Monitoring Results on our Pollution Incident Response, Monitoring Data Uralla Water and Sewer page.