Water & Sewer: Unserviced Properties Survey
Between 23 November and 14 February 2024 Central Coast Council Water and Sewer sought community feedback from residents and businesses in two phases on the small urban and rural communities across the Central Coast that do not have access to water and/or sewerage services. These properties are known as ‘unserviced properties’. An unserviced property is one that is not connected to the Council’s water and/or sewer network.
There were two phases:
- Phase 1 was conducted by Woolcott Reasearch who surveyed 500 residents and small businesses who are connected to Council’s water and/or sewerage services.
- Phase 2 was a Targeted Survey amongst 1352 people who occupy, own, or operate a business from an ‘unserviced property’ on the Central Coast.
There are approximately 7,500 of these properties on the Central Coast. These properties are not connected to the Council water and sewer network. Typically, owners of these properties store their own drinking water, and collect, treat, and dispose of their own sewerage.
The surveys build upon earlier engagement with the community and will inform development of Council’s Water and Sewer Masterplan to deliver services for our customers into the future. Your valued feedback helped Council inform its planning and to determine how best to manage unserviced properties.
We would like to thank everyone who completed the survey.
Next Steps
The Unserviced Properties survey was a requirement of the Department of Climate Change, Energy the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). The data from the recent engagement with unserviced properties will be used to help form one component of the Water and Sewer Masterplan. The Masterplan is expected to be published in 2025/26 on our website.
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Basic Documents
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Timeline
Who's listening
What is an ‘unserviced property’?
An ‘unserviced property’ is one that is not connected to the Council water and sewer infrastructure network.
Unserviced properties use alternative options for water and sewer services such as rainwater tanks, private dams, bores and onsite sewerage management systems. These alternate options can expose potential risks to public health and contamination of the natural environment, through surface water, land and groundwater exposure.
Why is Council conducting a survey for ‘unserviced properties’?
Central Coast Council is developing knowledge across the community of its water and sewer systems and is keen to understand community interest for including connection of ‘unserviced properties’ into our future plans.
What is a serviced property?
A serviced property is a property that is connected to Council’s water and sewer infrastructure network. This refers to the vast majority of properties across the Central Coast, other than ‘unserviced properties’.
The benefits of being connected to Council’s network include having access to clean and safe drinking water, having a reliable and secure drinking water supply, and reduced environmental and public health risks.
What will happen with the feedback collected from this survey?
Central Coast Council will review the results of the survey to understand community sentiment with regards to ‘unserviced properties’ to inform development of Council’s Water and Sewer Masterplan to deliver services for our customers into the future. Funding models around potential investment decisions will be considered as part of Council’s future engagement with the community.
How will the survey about ‘unserviced properties’ benefit water and sewer customers in the community?
The survey provides information to develop knowledge in the community about Council’s water and sewer systems and to gauge community interest for including connection of ‘unserviced properties’ into our future plans. The survey results will inform development of the Water and Sewer Masterplan and future investment in the water and sewer network.
Why are there two surveys?
The current survey (Phase 2) is for people who occupy, own or operate a business from an ‘unserviced property’ on the Central Coast which will be open during the period of 24 January to 14 February 2024.
The previous survey (Phase 1) was for customers who are already connected to Council’s water and/or sewerage services on the Central Coast.