Is my Swan Valley property on sewer or septic?

Water Corporation’s property search will tell you whether the property is connected to sewer or can connect. If it isn’t, it will have an onsite system such as a septic tank or an ATU. Tell us which you have when you ring, because it changes where we start looking.

Do you work on septic tanks or ATUs?

No. We don’t do septic tank or ATU work. We clear blocked house drains, toilets and sinks on septic properties as well as sewered ones. If the tank or the leach drains are the problem, you’ll need a septic specialist.

Can you clear the drains at our winery or café?

Yes, blocked kitchen sinks, toilets and drains. Tell us your trading hours and who will meet us, and we’ll work around service where we can. We don’t pump out grease traps. That’s a licensed liquid-waste contractor’s job.

Brigadoon is a fair way from Ellenbrook. Will you still come?

Yes. Henley Brook and Belhus are right next to our base, while Bullsbrook, Upper Swan and Brigadoon are further out on slower roads. We don’t promise a set time. Ring, and we’ll give you an honest arrival time before you wait around.

Who pays if the blockage is in the sewer main?

Blockages in your property plumbing are the owner’s responsibility. If it’s in Water Corporation’s main, normally outside the property, Water Corporation clears it. If we find it there, we call them in.

Swan Valley and north-east rural · Blocked drains, Caversham to Walyunga

Blocked drains in the Swan Valley, Bullsbrook, Henley Brook and Caversham

Bullsbrook used to treat its own sewage at a local wastewater plant. By early 2024 Water Corporation had laid an 18-kilometre pipeline and built a pump station to carry that wastewater to Ellenbrook and on to its Beenyup plant, so the old Bullsbrook plant could be shut down. Plenty of properties on this page were never on sewer at all, though. The State’s 2018 Swan Valley planning review treated the established houses of Herne Hill village as having no reticulated sewer, and on many of the Valley’s rural lots, wastewater goes to a septic tank and leach drains instead.

The short answer

McDermott Plumbing clears blocked drains, toilets and sinks in Henley Brook, Caversham, Millendon, Herne Hill, Baskerville, Middle Swan, Belhus, Bullsbrook, Upper Swan, Brigadoon and Walyunga. Call (08) 6187 3999 or text 0406 882 648. Henley Brook and Belhus are next door to our Ellenbrook base. Bullsbrook, Brigadoon and the far end of the Valley take longer, and we’ll give you a real arrival time when you ring. We clear household drains on sewered and septic properties, but we don’t do septic tank or ATU work. If sewage is overflowing from Water Corporation’s main, call Water Corporation on 13 13 75 as well.

Sewer or septic? Check before you call

Water Corporation’s property search shows whether a property is connected to sewer or has access to it. Where reticulated sewer isn’t available, the City of Swan requires an approved onsite system, and when sewer does become available, the owner has five years to disconnect the old system and connect. The State’s Government Sewerage Policy makes reticulated sewerage the default for new subdivision, so homes in the newer estates of Henley Brook, Caversham and Bullsbrook are generally on sewer, while older rural and lifestyle lots across the Valley, Upper Swan and Brigadoon often aren’t.

It matters for a blockage. On sewer, the line runs from the house to the sewer junction, and anything in the main is Water Corporation’s to clear. On septic, a whole house that drains slowly may be the tank or the leach drains rather than a blocked pipe. The City of Swan notes that onsite systems don’t last forever, because the soil around the leach drains clogs with fats over time. We clear house drains, toilets and sinks either way, but we don’t do septic tank or ATU work. If the tank or the leach drains are the problem, you’ll need a septic specialist.

Henley Brook, Caversham and Belhus

Henley Brook is two places in one. The 1995 Swan Valley Planning Act set the eastern side, along West Swan Road, aside for wineries, hobby farms and tourism, while the western side became suburban: the Morgan Fields estate was released in 2000, and estates such as Brooklands followed from 2022. At the 2021 Census Henley Brook had 2,500 people and 97.3% of its homes were separate houses. Caversham had 7,419 residents, mostly in separate houses, alongside its wineries and the tile works that opened there in 1953. Belhus has stayed rural, with hobby farms and vineyards protected under the same Act.

In the newer streets, blockages are usually wipes, fat, or sand and grout left in the line from the build, rather than roots. On the lifestyle lots along West Swan Road, the drain from the house can be a long run, and the property may be on septic, so tell us what you have.

Herne Hill, Millendon, Baskerville and Middle Swan

This is the vineyard end of the Valley. Baskerville is a narrow strip about 7.5 km long with no explicitly residential areas, and nearly all of it is under cultivation. Herne Hill and Millendon have wineries, and Middle Swan has wineries plus the Midland brickworks. Many of the houses here sit on rural lots, and the 2018 review recommended keeping Swan Valley Rural land in lots of at least four hectares.

For cafés, cellar doors and function venues, a blocked drain usually means grease and food waste from a busy kitchen. We clear the drains and sinks and book around your trading hours. Pumping out a grease trap is a licensed liquid-waste contractor’s job, so we don’t offer it.

Bullsbrook, Upper Swan, Brigadoon and Walyunga

Bullsbrook grew up around its station on the Midland railway in the 1890s, and most of its development came from the 1970s, with RAAF Base Pearce on its doorstep. At the 2021 Census it had 5,605 people and 99.2% of homes were separate houses. Upper Swan was cut into one-acre and half-acre lots in 1910 but saw little building until the 1970s. Brigadoon sits on the edge of the Darling Scarp with a growing number of large-lot estates, and Walyunga National Park lies about 35 km north-east of Perth along the Great Northern Highway.

Water Corporation said in 2024 that many City of Swan properties are semi-rural. Out here, a drain can run a long way from the house, access can be steep or unsealed in Brigadoon, and whether the property is on sewer or septic changes where we look first.

What blocks drains around the Swan Valley and Bullsbrook

Grease and food waste from café, winery and function-venue kitchens.
Fat and wipes in family homes. Water Corporation says fats, oils and grease cause 30% of its wastewater blockages, and that wipes don’t break down like toilet paper, even the flushable ones.
Sand, grout and offcuts left in new lines in recent Henley Brook, Caversham and Bullsbrook estates.
Tree roots in older drains on established lots with big trees.
On septic properties, a tank or leach drain that’s full or clogged. It looks like a blocked drain, but it’s work for a septic specialist.

Blocked sink in Bullsbrook?

In a Bullsbrook or Henley Brook family kitchen, a slow sink is usually fat and food scraps in the trap, or a dishwasher sharing the same waste. On a septic property, keeping fat out of the sink matters twice over, because the City of Swan says fats are what clog the soil around leach drains. If only the sink is slow, start with the safe checks in our blocked kitchen sink guide and skip the caustic cleaners. If every fixture in the house is slow and you’re on septic, it may be the tank rather than the pipe, so tell us when you ring. If the toilet or outdoor gully is backing up on a sewered home, stop using water and call.

How we clear it

We clear from the inspection opening, gully or nearest sensible access point. A simple choke gets the drain machine. Grease, sand and roots get the hydro jetter, which flushes the line rather than just punching a hole through. If a drain keeps blocking, the CCTV drain camera shows what’s in the pipe and roughly where, which also helps tell a blocked pipe from a septic problem. Jetting won’t fix a broken pipe, and we’ll tell you straight if that’s what we find.

If the blockage turns out to be in Water Corporation’s main, normally outside the property, it’s theirs to clear and we report it. Blockages within the property plumbing are the owner’s responsibility.

Suburbs we cover here: Henley Brook, Caversham, Millendon, Herne Hill, Baskerville, Middle Swan, Belhus, Bullsbrook, Upper Swan, Brigadoon and Walyunga.

Common questions

Is my Swan Valley property on sewer or septic?: Water Corporation’s property search will tell you whether the property is connected to sewer or can connect. If it isn’t, it will have an onsite system such as a septic tank or an ATU. Tell us which you have when you ring, because it changes where we start looking.
Do you work on septic tanks or ATUs?: No. We don’t do septic tank or ATU work. We clear blocked house drains, toilets and sinks on septic properties as well as sewered ones. If the tank or the leach drains are the problem, you’ll need a septic specialist.
Can you clear the drains at our winery or café?: Yes, blocked kitchen sinks, toilets and drains. Tell us your trading hours and who will meet us, and we’ll work around service where we can. We don’t pump out grease traps. That’s a licensed liquid-waste contractor’s job.
Brigadoon is a fair way from Ellenbrook. Will you still come?: Yes. Henley Brook and Belhus are right next to our base, while Bullsbrook, Upper Swan and Brigadoon are further out on slower roads. We don’t promise a set time. Ring, and we’ll give you an honest arrival time before you wait around.
Who pays if the blockage is in the sewer main?: Blockages in your property plumbing are the owner’s responsibility. If it’s in Water Corporation’s main, normally outside the property, Water Corporation clears it. If we find it there, we call them in.

Nearby

Blocked drain and plumber pages for the areas next to this one.

How we clear drains here.

Official sources

Last updated 19 October 2026. General information only. Every property is different, so call us to talk about yours.

More Perth plumbing help

Need a plumber now?

Call (08) 6187 3999 or call/text 0406 882 648. 24/7 for emergencies. Tell us the suburb and what’s happening.

Call (08) 6187 3999 Message us now