City of Melbourne manages and maintains the municipal stormwater drainage infrastructure in partnership with Melbourne Water.
On this page:
Stormwater drains
Stormwater drains can be owned by property owners, Melbourne Water, City of Melbourne, Department of Transport (VicRoads) and various infrastructure managers. The owner of each drain is responsible for its ongoing management and maintenance.
City of Melbourne is responsible for the management and maintenance of our stormwater drains. These include the channels (gutters), drains and pits located in public roads, and our drains in drainage easements.
Damage to your stormwater drain
You as the property owner are responsible for maintaining all stormwater connections between your internal drainage system on private property and our drainage network. This includes the point of connection located within a street, laneway, public land or an easement.
Management of stormwater on your property
You are responsible for managing the stormwater accumulating within your property. Stormwater must be collected within your property and discharged to our drainage network in accordance with the nominated legal point of discharge advice obtained from City of Melbourne.
Issues with flooding or overland flow of water between private properties must be resolved between property owners. Resolution may require drainage works to be carried out on both properties. We are not responsible for managing drainage issues or disputes between private properties.
Legal point of discharge
A legal point of discharge report specifies where stormwater from a property must be discharged to our drainage network. This point is usually our stormwater drain, pit or street kerb and channel.
You need to obtain a legal point of discharge report from us in accordance with Regulation 133(2) of the
Building Regulations 2018 if you’re applying to do building work that includes a stormwater drainage system.
How to apply
You must apply online for a legal point of discharge report.
To start an application, you'll need to log in with your registered customer account. Find out more about
how to register and log in.