A Section 73 certificate is to ensure your development complies with legislation to ensure the property is adequately serviced with the necessary assets. This usually refers to water & wastewater (sewer) servicing.

Our team will provide an upfront FREE assessment to ensure you understand all the requirements before proceeding.

Every new development must have the proposed plans approved on behalf of Sydney Water to ensure the proposed works will not damage or adversely impact any of the Sydney Water assets (pipes) in or sometimes above the ground.

You will be required to follow different processes within the Sydney Water/ WSC (Water service Coordination) system depending on these assessments. The Zone of Influence (ZOI) is calculated differently depending on which stage of the process you are up to.

Our team can guide you through the process to eliminate worry and ensure you have a trusted team on the job

In some cases, approval can be obtained very easily. In others, the process can take months, sometimes years. We know that is crazy to think but the reality is that the requirements depend on your block of land & the assets (existing or non-existing) that must be taken into consideration.

Once we understand the lay of the land so to speak, then we can embark on a path to ensure you are approved as quickly as possible whilst ensuring compliance with the regulations.

Gaining approval or certification can be very simple or, quite often, can have many steps. The steps can include site survey of assets, CCTV inspections, additional documents, additional engineering, additional construction steps & verification inspections to name just a few. We always recommend starting as early as possible just in case we uncover hidden challenges you were not expecting

A Section 73 is required when you are planning to develop a parcel of land. The purpose of this process is to ensure that the property is adequately serviced with the correct level of infrastructure, being water, wastewater and stormwater. This is most common for subdividing land and having multiple dwellings on a given parcel of land.

A Building Plan Approval is required when you are planning to build on your parcel of land. If you want to build a new home, an extension, a pool, a carport, a fence, or any others structure on your property, you must obtain a Sydney Water Building Plan Approval.

A very simple assessment is carried out on the proposed building works to identify if these works may potentially impact on Sydney Waters assets. At this stage, your plans can be approved or referred to the WSC (water service coordination) process for a more accurate assessment of the proposed construction.

Assuming the proejct falls within our scope of works (see what is out of scope? for more info), you may require us accurately identify the position of the asset via a Service Protection Report (Sewer Pegout) or via a Works As Constructed plan (WAC). Once we obtain either of these documents, we can then carry out a determination of requirements to ensure the Sydney Water asset is protected from any impact that your proposed building works may create.

Finally, if you are indeed, building close to the asset, you may be required to concrete encase and/or engineer additional piering into the design of your proposed works. If so, we are required to verify the site works match the approved plan during the construction stage. Failing to do so will cause non-compliance within Sydney waters system and will most likely impact you at a later date.

There are several key steps to the process, starting with submitting an application so our team can review your proposed development and outline any requirements (if any) applicable to meet the criteria for a Section 73 certificate.

Our recommendation is to submit this application as early as possible to ensure your project timeline is maintained, as quite often, projects require a significant timeline to ensure all applications, assessments, investigations, design tasks, construction and project management responsibilities can be met in accordance with the instructions from Sydney Water.

The requirements for any given property can include construction, diversion, upgrade or alteration of sewer, water or stormwater assets; Our team will design and project manage this process, ensuring your development is provided with a professional and efficient service that targets quality and cost efficient workmanship from the constructors involved in the process.

The requirement assessment can be made prior to receiving your DA; If you are unsure if you need an S73, our team can review your project and determine this for you.

In cases where plan approval forms a part of the Section 73 process, Opal Water Management has developed an internal process to manage these projects proactively. Your project administrator can discuss this with you in more depth.

There are several important steps, as well as documents and information that must be submitted with the application; Opal Water Management will assist you in ensuring that your application is complete and contains all the necessary additional documentation to allow Sydney Water to assess your development.

We recognise that Developers have a very broad scope of responsibility, and that’s why we provide our professional knowledge and experience to lead you through the policies and procedures that all developers are required to follow when applying for a Section 73 Certificate.

As your Water Servicing Coordinator, Opal Water Management can assist you in all areas of the application process. For us to assist you best in preparing the Application, we will require the following information.

1. Development Consent (DA) – You will need to provide us with your Development Consent (DA) from your Consent Authority (Local Council or Local Government Area (LGA/Certifier)).

2. All the DA approved Architectural Plans (Including Site/ Basement/Subdivision/Elevations/Stormwater) – They must be in either AutoCAD .dwg format or in PDF format with clearly defined lots.

3. Pre-allocated Plan Number (PPN) – This is only required if your Development Consent (DA) specifically states Subdivision in the development description. The pre-allocated plan number or PPN is to be obtained by your Surveyor.

Once we have verified all the information and have ensured that all necessary documents are available and valid, we can then begin our investigation.

Most S73 projects will require the design and project management of water, wastewater (sewer) or stormwater assets to ensure your block is adequately serviced for the intended use. The S73 application will determine any number of paths you will need to engage with which can be daunting.

The 2 most common paths are minor works and/or major works (both self-explanatory terms regarding the complexity of your project). Each can require a combination of numerous services to be provided. As daunting as this can be, the Opal team are here to ensure you have the most efficient design, as well as multiple tried and tested quality options provided from constructors, who are going to complete the installation of these assets.

Our team will oversee the entire process, from the design phase of the new infrastructure required, to managing the tender process, pre-start safety documentation, permission to enter, developer agreements, constructor documentation and project completion submissions to achieve compliance in a simple, functional manner; This allows you to get on with managing the rest of your development.

No, our “WSC” tender for any Opal services DOES NOT include construction. Our team can & will assist in aquiring construction options, but our fees are only for the services we provide.

In newer areas, we can utilise a document known as a Work as Constructed (WAC), granted the document life be less than 3 years old. Outside of this, we must carry out an SPR

The most common reason for a SPR (Sewer Pegout) is due to your proposed plans failing Tap In and require further investigation.

This ensures that all planning and approvals from this point forward are 100% accurate protecting the landowner, builder, WSC and Sydney Water; SPR’s can be requested, should you wish to determine the location of the sewer for other purposes and also proactively earlier in the planning process to assist in the design phase.

Opal Water Management has invested in reputable electronic location equipment to ensure we can identify the location of the asset, without fuss or disturbance to you or your neighbours (in cases whereby access to neighbouring properties is required).

The SPR is then prepared into a high-quality design standard PDF drawing. The beauty of Opal Water Management’s system is that regardless of the challenge during this part of the process, we have a solution to achieve the necessary result.

In some more difficult cases, you may even need to excavate the assets to accurately locate them as occasionally, technology can only take you so far – our team can provide a competitive quote to do this should it be required.

Once either the WAC is obtained or our field team complete the SPR, a further assessment can be carried out in a significantly more accurate manner. This allows for our team to make a precise assessment on the requirements of the proposed works.

In some cases, approval can be granted at this stage, with no requirements to protect the Sydney Water asset(s) – This is known as a “Asset Not Affected” approval.

In other cases, you will be instructed to supply the WAC or SPR to your structural engineer for assessment and design of asset protection requirements. Most commonly these include additional piering and when building over the asset, concrete encasement of the sewer is likely to be a requirement. This is known as a “Subject to Requirements” Approval and will dictate the need for inspections during the early stages of construction, to verify that the works on site are as per plan.

The precautions (such as piering and encasement) ensure no weight is shifted from your proposed works onto the asset. For Example, the smallest amount of weight on a sewer pipe could cause the pipe to crack and sewerage to leak out. Opal Water Management is here to ensure this does not happen as repair costs can be more than the cost of your proposed works.

The scope of works for a Water Servicing Coordinator to provide approval is as follows; “Gravity sewer mains up to and including DN 225 earthenware and plastic pipes (e.g. VC and PVC pipes), that have been constructed by open trench method to a maximum of 6m to invert and associated structures.”

This covers most properties, however if your property is found to have conditions outside of this statement, Opal Water Management is required to refer the project to Sydney Water for additional direction & assessment.

OOS (Out of Scope) projects require more investigation, more engineering and more review. Opal has established a team & process to manage these projects as efficienctly as possible. Our team will guide you on the specific requriemnts for your development and site conditions.