If sewage is coming up
Stop the water going in
No showers, washing machine or flushing until it's cleared. Every litre you use ends up at the overflow.
Keep everyone clear
Children and pets stay away from the spill, and wash hands after any contact.
Ask next door
If the neighbours are backing up too, the blockage may be in a shared line or the council's main. Report it to Townsville City Council.
Book a drain specialist
If it's only your house, a plumber can open the drain at its lowest point and find out where it's stuck.
Townsville drain facts
Council mains choke as well
In its 2025 figures to the Queensland Government, the council recorded 662 sewer main breaks and chokes on 1452.9 km of main, or 45.6 per 100 km. A plumber who finds clear pipe all the way to your boundary should say so.
Downpours test every drain
Townsville Aero averages 13.0 days a year with 25 mm of rain or more, and February alone averages 312.9 mm. A drain that only overflows in heavy rain still needs explaining.
Houses with long yard runs
At the 2021 Census, 81.1% of occupied homes in the council area were separate houses. In the 11.0% that were townhouses or semis, check whether a drain is shared before work starts.
Is it your drain or the council's?
Townsville City Council is the registered sewerage provider and runs the mains. We couldn't read the council's page on where its pipe ends at your property, so we won't state that line. Ask the council when you report a problem, and ask the plumber to show you where the blockage sits before anything is cleared.
Queensland's general rule is that the plumbing and drainage on your land is yours to keep in good condition. Our guide to who owns the sewer pipe shows how other water providers split the pipe.
What a drain plumber will do
A plumber will start at an inspection opening or the overflow gully and work out which stretch of pipe is holding water. If it's unclear what's causing it, a CCTV drain camera shows whether it's roots, a sag, a broken joint or a build-up of fat and wipes.
Clearing is usually done with an electric eel or a water jetter. A pipe that's cracked or collapsed needs more than clearing: ask whether relining or digging up the section makes sense, and why.
If the camera shows the blockage past your pipe, in the council's main, the plumber should stop and tell the council. Paying to clear someone else's pipe is the expensive way to find that out.
What you can do, and what to leave
You can
- Clean or maintain a ground-level grate over a trap, such as the yard gully. The QBCC lists this as unregulated work.
- Replace a missing cap on a ground-level inspection opening of the sanitary drain, also on the QBCC's list.
- Clear leaves and soil away from the gully so overflow can escape outside, not inside.
- Bin wipes, nappies and cooking fat instead of flushing or pouring them.
Leave to a licensed plumber
- Any blockage a plunger won't shift.
- Cutting into, replacing or relining any part of the drain.
- Camera work to find a break or root intrusion.
- Anything that isn't on the QBCC's list of unregulated work.
That list comes from the QBCC's DIY plumbing guide. Unregulated work needs no licence or approval, but it still has to meet the minimum standards in the plumbing codes. The full list is in what you can do yourself.
What we would do
Check the neighbours first: if more than one house is affected, ring the council before anyone else. If it's only you, book a drain specialist and agree before they start that they'll stop and report it if the blockage is in the main. Ask for camera footage when the cause isn't obvious, and keep it. If the drain blocks twice in a season, pay for the diagnosis rather than another quick clear.