Stormwater Drainage Wollongong

Stormwater drainage in Wollongong: what goes wrong and how we fix it

With the escarpment rising behind the northern suburbs, a heavy downpour can push a lot of water across a block in a short time, and a stormwater system with a partial blockage or a broken pipe soon shows it. Jobs we've completed from Bellambi, Bulli and Thirroul through Corrimal and Wollongong, and south to Shellharbour, Lake Illawarra, Dapto and Albion Park, include stormwater work.

Signs of a blocked stormwater drain

• Water pouring over the lip of clean gutters during rain, a sign the downpipe underneath may have nowhere to go.
• Water bubbling out of a downpipe joint or up through a pit grate instead of going down it.
• Pooling against walls or across paving that is still there hours after the rain stops.
• A soft, soggy strip of lawn or garden that follows the line of a buried pipe.
• Paving that has started to crack or sink near a pit or along a pipe run, which can mean water is escaping underground and washing soil away.

First checks you can make

When it is dry and safe to do so, lift the pit grates and scoop out the leaves and silt sitting at the top. Run a hose into the pit: if the water still won't go down, the blockage is further along the pipe and needs clearing equipment. Our page on what to do about a blocked stormwater drain covers more first steps.

Stormwater drain repair

When a stormwater line keeps blocking, there is usually damage behind it: a pipe crushed under a driveway, joints pulled apart by roots or ground movement, or a run laid too flat to carry silt away. We locate it with a CCTV drain inspection, clear the line with jet blasting, then repair or replace the damaged section.

Sometimes the answer is more capacity rather than a repair, such as an extra pit where water collects, a larger outlet, or re-routing a downpipe that overloads one line. You get the options explained and a quote in hand before anything is dug or replaced.

Extensions, carports and new concrete all change how much water a block sheds. If you have added roof or hard surface since the drains went in, the old pipes may be carrying more than they were laid for. Our guide to the best drainage solutions for heavy rain looks at the upgrade options in more depth.

Keep stormwater out of the sewer

Roof water and sewage are meant to travel in separate pipes. Sydney Water, which provides wastewater services across the Illawarra, says you must not discharge stormwater or roof water to its wastewater system, and it lists stormwater getting into the wastewater network during heavy rain as one cause of blockages.

If a downpipe has been plumbed into a sewer line, we can reconnect it to the stormwater system. The stormwater pipes on your property are the owner's to maintain, so it is worth fixing a misconnection before it adds to an overflow.