Hey Guys

I'm going to get a plumber to fix a cracked underground stormwater pipe at the front of our property.

This drain takes water off the front roof and drains to the street.

Whilst investigating getting this drain fixed I checked to see where the stormwater from the *back* of the house drains to.

This morning I put a hose into the downpipe and ran water for 5 minutes or so.

No water appeared in the road side gutter at the front of the house.

Where would this water be going?

I suspect the back of the house downpipe (there is only one) is connected to the sewer system? Its not obvious cos the downpipe just goes into the ground. There are concrete tiles surrounding the downpipe so its not easy to see where it is actually ending up.

How could I test where this is draining to. There is a sewer inspection hole about 4m away.. Should I use some dye in the top gutter and see if I can see this water flow through to the inspection hole? or is this just a mad suggestion?

Whilst illegal apparently it is common for older house (1910 terraces etc) to tap the storm water into the sewer, especially at the back of the house where it is not possible to lay drains to the front of the house without ripping up the entire house. Is this true?

My concern is if the stormwater is not going into the sewer then where the hell is this water going? There are no obvious signs of damp/flooding.

Any comments


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