Thread: Downspouit discharge

Is it permitted to have the downspout discharge into the perimeter drainage system?
It seems to me that you wouldn't want to put any additional moisture into the drainage system.
Sounds like a bad idea to me.

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Originally Posted by Ronald Micheal Joseph

Is it permitted to have the downspout discharge into the perimeter drainage system?
It seems to me that you wouldn't want to put any additional moisture into the drainage system.
Sounds like a bad idea to me.

Depends on local authority having jurisdiction.

In most of the province (Ontario my area) it was a requirement years ago to be attached; over the years it has become part of a disconnect program on existing homes. Thus reducing the amount of storm water being dumped into the sewer system. In some areas reducing the load on the local water treatment and sewers, while supposedly helping to add water to our lawn.

Yes, here it was standard practice up into the 80's to dump downspout water into the perimeter drains. The perimeter drain system would flow to a storm drain or out to a ditch.
Some very old city houses here have perimeter drain systems connected to sewer, but that is not usual nor acceptable here.

I often recommend pulling the downspouts out of the perimeter drains. A solid PVC pipe buried just below the surface should be installed. Downhill from the house, somewhere out and away from the house, it can be connected to the storm drain pipe if there is one, French drain, out to daylight down slope, or out to the ditch.

Would help to put a location in as to where you are - click on the "My Profile" tab at the top, then click on the "About Me" tab, then click on the little yellow pencil looking icon that says "Edit Value" when you put your cursor over it, then click "Save".

So many things differ from state to state, from north to south, from east to west, and even from 'down here' (in the US) to 'up there' (in Canada) - without knowing where you are ... our answers may be meaningless (as they might be anyway ).

Any drainage design drawings that I have seen have two pipes. The perforated (french or curtain drain) pipe with the holes facing downward and a non-perforated pipe that provides drainage from gutter downspouts and surface drains. Around here, soils engineers do not want to introduce surface water into the soil.