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If you’re experiencing a toilet or sewage overflow on your property right now, please call a licensed plumber immediately.

For more information, go to toilet and sewer problems. 

Or read below to learn some simple things you can do inside and outside your home to prevent problems occurring in the future. 

During storms, cyclones and heavy wet weather, our sewer network can be overloaded with large volumes of stormwater. This can cause sewage overflows and these can happen on your property.  

What is Unitywater doing to help?

Our team is inspecting our sewerage infrastructure and your outdoor connections in certain areas during our sewer network testing. During this testing, we'll be using a machine to blow non-toxic smoke into the sewer pipes to identify infrastructure defects (this is known as smoke testing). Check the list of suburbs we are currently working in.

Here's what you can do to help minimise sewage overflows:

Find out why your stormwater and sewerage plumbing should never mix. Watch the teacup video!

Other good tips to prepare for bad weather include:

  • Put an emergency kit together – this includes a spare supply of fresh water in bottles or containers in case the water supply is cut off. (Keep an eye on our water outages map.)
  • Perform a backwash of your pool to prevent an overflow.
  • Make sure you can access your water meter and you know how to turn off water supply in an emergency. Here's how!
  • Like and follow Unitywater on Facebook to keep updated.
  • Go to the Queensland Alert website for more information about the impact of severe weather events.

What you can do inside

Pipe blockages usually start to happen long before you realise it, with the blockage becoming worse and worse over time.

But there are some simple things you can do inside your home to avoid blockages, saving you money on plumbing bills and helping you to avoid messy clean-ups:

Bin wet wipes Think at the sink Love your loo

What you can do outside

If you're the property owner, you are responsible for all the pipe work and plumbing fixtures on your private property, and for any associated blockages and problems that may occur. (Any leaks, cracks or bursts in pipes on public land - like the roadside or footpath - are Unitywater's responsibility.)

To prevent issues with your toilets and pipes, you should regularly check and maintain your plumbing, and also be aware of the location of your pipes when planting or digging in your garden:

Check your ORG Make sure your downpipes are legal Think before you plant Before you start digging
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