Airport West
Blocked, burst or leaking in Airport West?
Blocked drains, burst pipes and leaks in Airport West, from the first tramline estates to Steele Creek, passed to a licensed plumber day and night.
Plumbing in Airport West
Tramline estates, factory drains and Steele Creek
Houses came late to Airport West, with the first built as mid-1950s estates beside the tramline. A house sewered in that era usually still has earthenware drains and galvanised water pipe, so cracked clay joints and rusted fittings are expected and a camera run comes before any dig.
In the sixties the suburb filled with foundries, engineering works and airport-related industries, from small workshops to big factories. Those sites can carry old trade waste connections and wide cast iron or clay drains that need heavier jetting gear, and a trade waste check with the water corporation first.
Steele Creek passes through Airport West and a linear park runs along both sides of it, so street stormwater runs to a creek corridor inside the suburb. For a house beside the park, the plumber checks whether the outlet discharges toward the reserve and whether council or Melbourne Water owns that outfall.
Jobs in Airport West
Clay sewers, trade waste and creek outlets
Blocked drains
Clay sewer joints in the first estates beside the tramline, and wide drains on old factory sites.
Commercial plumbing
Workshop and factory drains with trade waste connections in the industrial part of the suburb.
CCTV drain inspection
A camera along the line to see cracked joints before any trench is opened.
What it costs: hot water replacement cost, gutter replacement cost, toilet installation cost
Airport West questions
Shafts, nature strips and a reserve wetland
How can I tell if a sewer blockage is the water corporation's job?
Find the inspection shaft first. Greater Western Water's rule for plumbers is that when the inspection shaft is full or holding water, the fault sits in its own network and goes to its faults line. A dry shaft points back to the house drain, which is the owner's.
Who pays for a blockage under the footpath?
The owner. In Moonee Valley a property's drains run up to the point of connection with a drainage easement, the council drain or the kerb and channel, and that takes in pipe under the footpath or nature strip. Opening the footpath to reach it needs a council permit.
Can a stormwater line near AJ Davis Reserve connect straight in?
Check first. The council's plan for the reserve includes a stormwater harvesting system for park irrigation and a wetland upgrade, so nearby street pits may feed it. Council's design team is asked before a discharge near the reserve is connected or changed.

