Storm drain cleaning
Storm drainage is separate from sanitary sewer and fails for different reasons — silt, leaves, litter and sediment rather than grease and waste. It also fails invisibly, because nobody looks at a catch basin until the car park is under water.
What goes wrong
Storm systems fill from the bottom up. Grit, sand, leaf litter and rubbish wash into catch basins and settle in the sump, and the outlet pipe silts up gradually. The system looks fine from the surface for years. Capacity is quietly disappearing the whole time.
The failure always arrives during the storm, which is the worst possible moment and the hardest time to get anyone out. Water that cannot enter the storm system ponds on the surface and then finds the lowest opening — a loading dock, a basement ramp, a ground-floor doorway.
Jetting clears silted outlet lines and restores the designed capacity, and vacuuming out basin sumps removes the sediment before it migrates into the pipe. This is maintenance work with an obvious right time to do it: before the wet season, not during it.
Signs you need this service
Two or more of these together usually means the line is restricted rather than one fixture being blocked.
- Ponding in a car park or yard that drains slowly after rain
- Catch basin grates holding standing water
- Visible silt, gravel or leaf litter filling a basin sump
- Water backing out of an area drain during heavy rain
- Erosion or scouring around a drain inlet
- Storm lines that have never been inspected or cleaned
How we do it
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Survey the site drainage
Catch basins, area drains, trench drains, outlets and discharge point — including the inlets nobody has looked in for years.
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Clear sediment from the basin sumps
Removing settled grit at the source stops it migrating into the outlet pipe and silting the run.
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Jet the outlet and connecting lines
High-volume jetting moves compacted silt and debris that no cable will shift.
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Camera where the line is suspect
Storm lines crack, separate and get crushed under vehicle loading. Inspection distinguishes a silted pipe from a failed one.
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Schedule before the wet season
The right time for this work is ahead of the weather, not during the storm that proves the system was blocked.
Who this is for
Commercial property
Car parks, retail sites and business parks where surface water reaches doors and loading docks.
Industrial and logistics
Large hardstanding areas, trench drains and heavy vehicle loading over shallow storm lines.
HOAs and managed sites
Shared roads, common areas and drainage that is nobody's job until it floods.
Where we do this work
We take storm drain cleaning work nationwide. Texas is our first fully mapped state, down to individual city coverage.
Storm Drain Cleaning in Texas
Expansive clay soil, aging cast iron and year-round root growth make Texas lines fail faster than the national average. We cover 1,228 Texas cities across 244 counties.
Not in Texas?
Call us anyway. We work nationwide, and more states are being mapped the same way. If we can cover your address we will tell you on the phone, and if we cannot we will say that rather than waste your time.
Storm Drain Cleaning questions
Is storm drain cleaning different from sewer cleaning?
Yes. Storm systems carry surface water and block with silt, sand, leaves and litter rather than grease and waste. They often need higher water volume to move compacted sediment, and the access points are catch basins rather than cleanouts.
When should this be done?
Ahead of the wet season. The whole point is to have capacity available before the storm, and that is also when scheduling is easiest.
Who is responsible for the storm drains on our site?
Private drainage on private property is normally the owner's responsibility up to the municipal connection. Inlets on the public road are usually the city's. Site plans — or a camera inspection — settle it.
Our car park floods every heavy rain. Is cleaning enough?
Sometimes. If the system is silted, clearing it restores the capacity it was designed for. If the site was under-drained from the start or a line has collapsed, cleaning will not be enough, and an inspection will tell you which situation you are in.
Other services
Sewer Line Cleaning
Clears the main line that carries waste from your building to the municipal sewer or septic tank.
Service detailsDrain Line Cleaning
Clears the branch lines running from individual sinks, tubs, showers and floor drains into the main.
Service detailsMain Sewer Line Clog Removal
Emergency clearing when the main line is fully blocked and waste is backing up into the building.
Service detailsCommercial Drain Cleaning
Scheduled and emergency drain service for buildings where a backup means closing the doors.
Service detailsGrease Line Cleaning
Removes hardened fat, oil and grease from kitchen waste lines and interceptor runs.
Service detailsRestaurant Drain Cleaning
Drain service built around a working kitchen — floor sinks, dish pit, prep lines and interceptor.
Service detailsNeed storm drain cleaning?
Describe what the drain is doing and we will tell you whether this is an emergency, a cleaning job, or something that needs a camera down the line first.
(833) 349-033324/7 emergency service