Soakage guide

Soakage Pit Not Draining?

Slow soakage can cause stormwater to sit in the same place after every heavy rain. The issue may be in the pit, the upstream pipe, or the surrounding ground conditions.

Signs of soakage trouble

  • Water sits in a lawn, driveway, or low spot long after rain stops.
  • Catchpits drain slowly even when the grate is clear.
  • The same section becomes soggy after every storm.
  • Water backs up through private stormwater pipes.

Possible causes

Soakage pits can fill with silt, become blocked by debris, fail to cope with heavy runoff, or struggle when ground is already saturated. Sometimes the issue is not the soakage pit itself but the pipe feeding it.

What to include in an enquiry

Share your suburb, where the pit or pooling area is, whether the problem is new, and whether any recent landscaping, building, or driveway work changed the drainage.

Call 09 886 5612