WATER COMING IN
Protect the house first
If water is coming in and rising, the SES (132 500) helps with storm damage and flooding; call 000 if anyone is in danger. Move valuables up, and only switch off power at the switchboard if you can reach it without standing in water. Once the rain stops, find where it got in: a gutter overflowing into the eaves, a blocked stormwater line beside the house, or water running in from higher ground.
Typical cost: $200–$600 to clear a blocked stormwater line; $250–$500 to inspect it with a camera.
GUTTERS
Clear the gutters and the outlets
Overflowing gutters are usually full of leaves, or the outlet into the downpipe is blocked. If they are clean and still overflow, the downpipe below may be blocked, the gutter may have lost its fall, or on a big roof the gutters are simply too small for a heavy storm. Gutters on a two-storey roof are a job for someone with the right ladder or harness.
Typical cost: $100–$380 for gutter cleaning on a single-storey home; $150–$450 to unblock or replace a downpipe.
THE STORMWATER LINE
The pipe below ground is blocked
Water bursting out of a downpipe joint, or bubbling up where the downpipe meets the ground, means the stormwater pipe underground can’t take it. It is usually packed with leaves and silt, invaded by roots, or crushed. A plumber jets it clear and, if it keeps happening, checks it with a camera.
Typical cost: $200–$600 to clear a blocked stormwater line; $250–$500 for a camera inspection.
NOWHERE TO GO
The stormwater has nowhere to drain
Water from your own roof pooling in the yard usually means the downpipes empty onto the ground, or into a soakage (rubble) pit that has silted up. Ipswich’s clay soils soak up water slowly. The lasting fix is a pipe to the legal point of discharge, normally the kerb or a council drain, or a new absorption trench where that isn’t possible.
Typical cost: $1,500–$5,000 to connect to the legal point of discharge; $1,000–$4,000 for a new soakwell or trench.
OVERLAND FLOW
Water from higher ground
Water that naturally runs downhill across properties generally has to be accepted. A neighbour can’t pipe or channel extra water onto your land. Talk to them first; if their downpipes or drains discharge onto your property, Ipswich City Council can look into it. On your side, a plumber can build a diversion or channel drain to carry it around the house.
Typical cost: A plumber quotes a diversion drain on site; a call-out is typically $170–$300.
THE STREET DRAIN
Report the street drain to council
Kerb inlets and the stormwater pipes under the street belong to Ipswich City Council: report a blocked or overflowing street drain to council on (07) 3810 6666. If only your own pipe backs up where it comes out at the kerb, the kerb outlet or the pipe to it is blocked, and that is a job for a plumber.
Typical cost: Nothing to you for council’s drain; $200–$600 to clear your own line to the kerb.
IT’S NOT RAIN
Water when it is dry means a leak
Water pooling, or coming in, when it hasn’t rained is usually a leaking water pipe, not stormwater. Turn off every tap and check whether the water meter is still ticking over: if it is, there is a leak. A plumber finds it with a meter test, listening gear or thermal imaging.
Typical cost: $150–$300 for a visual inspection and meter test.
THAT’S THE SEWER
Stormwater is getting into the sewer
The grated gully near the house is the sewer’s overflow point, not a stormwater drain. If it overflows when it rains, rainwater is getting into the sewer: a downpipe or yard drain connected to it, or a broken pipe letting water in. The overflow is sewage, so keep children and pets away. A camera inspection finds where the water gets in.
Typical cost: $250–$350 for a camera inspection.