Get the rain away from your house.
Stormwater is the system that takes rain off your roof and away from your property. It’s separate from your sewer, it does nothing at all for most of the year, and you find out its condition during the first serious downpour.
Available 24/7 across the North Shore · No callout fee on eligible jobs
The North Shore makes it harder than average: sloping blocks, heavy tree cover dropping leaf litter into every gutter and grate, and a lot of older properties where the stormwater was laid decades ago and extended piecemeal since.
Describe what’s happening and we’ll tell you straight — including when the simple fix is the whole job.
Clearing blocked stormwater Grates, pits, and underground lines. Silt, leaves and root matter respond well to high-pressure water jetting, which cleans the pipe rather than just punching through the blockage.
Diagnosing what’s actually wrong A CCTV inspection shows whether the problem is debris or a broken pipe. Worth doing before spending on a system that turns out to be cracked.
Repairs and replacement Cracked, collapsed or root-damaged stormwater lines, including relining where the pipe permits.
New and upgraded drainage New lines, additional pits, downpipe connections, and re-grading a system that never drained properly. Where surface water is the problem, a trench drain may be the answer; where it’s water in the ground rather than on it, see sub-soil drainage and french drains.
Worth getting right, because the fixes are different:
| What you’re seeing | Likely system | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Water pooling on paving, driveway or paths | Surface drainage | Trench drains |
| Persistently soggy lawn or garden beds, damp subfloor | Groundwater | Sub-soil drainage |
| Water against a retaining wall or a slope | Groundwater | French drains |
| Gutters overflowing, pits backing up, roof water not getting away | Stormwater | This page |
If you’re not sure, describe what you see and where — that’s usually enough to tell.
Cheap things worth doing: clear the gutters, clear the grates and pits of leaf litter, and check that every downpipe actually discharges into a drain rather than onto the ground. A surprising number don’t.
If water still pools after that, the underground system needs looking at.
No — two separate systems. Stormwater carries rainwater to the street or a legal discharge point; sewer carries wastewater for treatment. They’re not meant to be connected, and connecting them generally isn’t permitted.
Usually the underground line or the pit below the downpipe is blocked, so water backs up. Clean gutters with overflow is a fairly reliable sign the problem is below ground.
Sometimes — particularly for a new connection to the council system or changes to a legal point of discharge. Voyager will tell you when approval is likely to be needed before work is quoted.
Often, yes, subject to condition and diameter. A camera inspection establishes it.
That usually means groundwater rather than a stormwater fault — the water is in the soil, not in your pipes. See sub-soil drainage.
On a leafy North Shore block, clearing gutters, grates and pits before each storm season is reasonable. Underground lines only need attention when there are symptoms.
Free quote, a fixed price agreed before the work starts, and someone on the end of the phone at any hour.
Voyager Plumbing · NSW Contractor Licence 476657C
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Page reviewed and updated 19 August 2026
