When Kelvin Rundle bought his house in the southern Adelaide suburb of Coromandel Valley, he was looking forward to settling back into his hometown and starting a family with his partner after previously living interstate.

The property his house sits on has a sewer pipe leading from it into a council park, but his conveyancer said the problem should not be hard to solve since it was the council’s issue to fix.

“We bought the property in good faith, because were were told it was resolvable,” Mr Rundle said.

“It has not been resolvable.”

He said the pipe in question was old and leaking into the Sturt River, but he could not do work on it because he does not own it. 

He said the pipe was a problem no-one wanted to fix or take responsibility for, so he is suing the City of Onkaparinga for $12,000. 

Push to link parks

Millions of state government dollars, as well as money from the City of Onkaparinga and the neighbouring City of Mitcham, have been spent on creating a linear park along the river through Coromandel Valley for walkers and cyclists to enjoy.

To create the park, the two councils had to buy land from properties along the river, including from a previous owner of Mr Rundle’s block.

The section in the City of Mitcham was bought in the 1990s, and the City of Onkaparinga bought its part in 2005 to expand the park to cover both sides of the river.

The City of Onkaparinga approved its own subdivision late that year.

The sewer pipe goes from Mr Rundle’s house, through the City of Onkaparinga’s side of the river and then to the rest of the park on the other side, where it joins the rest of Adelaide’s sewerage system.

The pipe cannot be run in a different direction because of the steepness of the block. 

“Further downstream in the linear park they’ve spent a lot of money trying to rehabilitate it, so absolutely it bothers me … that sewage is being discharged into the river on an intermittent basis,” Mr Rundle said.

Encumbrance placed on property

The lack of an easement probably would never have reared its head until a blockage on the sewer pipe in 2018 caused sewage to back up onto what is now Mr Rundle’s property.

The Office of the Technical Regulator (OTR) — the agency which looks after plumbing standards — became involved and noticed that the pipe went from Mr Rundle’s property onto someone else’s — the City of Onkaparinga’s — without an easement being in place.

An easement is a legal device allowing someone to use another person’s property for a specific purpose, like a sewer pipe or a driveway.

It put an encumbrance on the property — a legal instrument meaning anyone who bought it would have to be notified of the problem unless it was fixed.

Mr Rundle estimated it would cost $12,000 to fix but an inspector at the agency said in an email to him that it could well cost over $150,000 and was the responsibility of the council to fix — the amount the council paid for its block 17 years ago.

The same person said the two councils were definitely the developers of the land, not the previous owner.

The OTR declined to comment to the ABC.

Differing views from SA Water

An SA Water spokesperson told the ABC said the council did not have any requirements it had to meet.

However, in emails seen by the ABC, an SA Water employee agreed it was up to the council to fix the issue.

During consultation on the City of Onkaparinga’s subdivision, SA Water said pipes on the property should be fixed “to the satisfaction of the SA Water Corporation” and that an easement should be created for the sewer pipe to cut through the council’s land.

However, the only condition the council imposed on itself was “financial, easement and internal drain requirements for water and sewerage services of the SA Water Corporation, if any, being met”.

No easement through the council’s property was ever created.

In an email to Mr Rundle last November, SA Water said its conditions for the subdivision “were not complied with because the internal pipework remains non-compliant with no private easement in place”.

Sewer pipes are only meant to connect with the rest of the system directly, not through someone else’s property. 

Water minister declines to act

Mr Rundle has asked SA Water Minister Susan Close to use a provision of the Water Industry Act that allows the government to pay for the work to be done and then bill the property owner for the cost.

“The minister has that power, but has chosen not to exercise it,” Mr Rundle said.

A spokesman for Dr Close said Mr Rundle had written to her office “on multiple occasions” and he was advised to refer his concern to the City of Onkaparinga and the OTR.

The City of Onkaparinga declined to comment citing the ongoing court matter. 

However, in its defence lodged with the Adelaide Magistrates Court, the council denied any responsibility for the pipework.

It said the matter should be moved to the District Court because remediation work would likely cost more than the maximum $12,000 claimable in the magistrates court.

Mr Rundle is taking the OTR to the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to get an order for him to fix the pipe to instead be placed on the council. 

As well as the money — or the pipe to be fixed and an easement to be sorted out — Mr Rundle wants an apology from the council.

“I don’t think it’s equitable that a future owner should be asked to pay for the cost of that in relation to actions that were performed — or in this case, not performed — back in 2005.”