Blocked Drains
East London
With blocked drains, East London's by-law decides who pays, so the first thing we answer is whose drain it is. Then sinks, toilets, gullies and the sewer line are cleared with a machine or jetter suited to the pipe.
Request a call-out
Clearing a blockage properly
Where it is decides how it is cleared.
A single slow sink or toilet is usually a blockage close to the fitting: a trap, a short branch, a cistern outlet. Water rising in more than one fitting, or a gully overflowing outside, means the blockage is further down, in the main drain or the connection to the sewer, and needs a drain machine or a jetter rather than a plunger.
We clear from the nearest inspection eye or rodding point, then run water through the whole line to prove it flows. If the same drain blocks again, or the machine brings back roots, soil or pieces of pipe, the next step is a look inside: see CCTV drain inspection.
Kitchen drains need one more thing understood: fat. Buffalo City's by-law says nobody may allow grease, oil or fat to build up in a trap or fitting enough to block it, and in commercial kitchens a grease trap is required.
Whose blockage is it, and who pays?
What Buffalo City's by-law and tariff book say about private and shared drains.
Under Buffalo City's Water Services By-law, an owner must maintain their drainage installation at their own cost, any work to clear a blockage has to be done by or under the supervision of a plumber, and owners who share a drain are jointly responsible for it. The municipality's part is its own sewer, not the pipes on your property.
If the metro clears it for you, its 2025/26 tariff book charges R1,581.85 a property to clear a blockage on a combined drain shared by several properties, split equally between them, and a minimum of R3,161.69 when the blockage turns out to be on a section serving only one property. A shared drain is also where people end up paying twice: once on each side of a boundary, for the same blockage.
Two more by-law rules matter in a city with East London's rain. Rainwater and stormwater may not enter the sewer, and gutters and downpipes may not be connected to it. With about 921 mm of rain a year, a downpipe running into a gully sends storm water into a pipe sized for sewage. The city's sewers have little room to spare: Buffalo City runs 95 sewage pump stations, which have no backup generators and overflow when the power goes.
Some of the network is the problem in its own right. In Nompumelelo, sections of municipal sewer are so flat that sewage barely moves, causing major blockages. When a blockage is on the municipal side, the job is reporting it with the evidence, not paying to clear someone else's pipe.
If water rises in a neighbour's gully as well as yours, the blockage is on a shared drain. Agree with them who calls a plumber before you both do.
Cleared once, with the reason it blocked
Four rules that stop you paying for the same blockage twice.
Whose drain, answered first
Private branch, shared drain or municipal sewer. It decides who pays, and it is worth knowing before anyone starts rodding.
The right machine for the pipe
A hand rod for a trap, a drain machine for a main line, a jetter for fat and silt. Described on the form, brought on the first visit.
Proved flowing before we leave
Water run through the whole line from the top fitting, with you watching the gully or the inspection eye.
A camera before a second rodding
If the same drain blocks again, we look inside before charging to clear it again.
How a blocked drain is cleared
Find it, clear it, prove it, explain it.
- 1
Find the blockage
Which fittings are affected and which inspection eyes are full tells us roughly where it is and whose drain it is on.
- 2
Clear it
From the nearest access point, with the tool that suits the pipe and the blockage.
- 3
Prove the flow
Water run through from the highest fitting until the whole line clears.
- 4
Tell you why
Fat, wipes, a sag, roots or a broken section. If it is structural, you get the options in writing.
Blocked drain questions
Cost, then who is responsible.
What does drain unblocking cost in East London?
National guides put drain unblocking at roughly R600 to R2,500 depending on the blockage, and rodding a drain at R650 to R1,800. Buffalo City's own charge to clear a private blockage is a minimum of R3,161.69, or R1,581.85 a property on a shared drain. You hear our price on the call back.
Will Buffalo City unblock my drain for free?
Not if the blockage is on your property. The by-law makes owners maintain their own drains, and the metro charges for clearing private drains. A blockage in the municipal sewer is the metro's to clear: report it.
Who pays for a blockage on a shared drain?
The owners who share it are jointly responsible. If the metro clears it, the charge is split equally between the properties served.
Why does my drain keep blocking?
Usually fat in a kitchen line, wipes or sanitary products in a toilet line, a sagging section where waste settles, a root getting in at a joint, or a broken pipe. A camera shows which, and the fix is different for each.
Can I connect my gutters to the sewer?
No. Buffalo City's by-law prohibits connecting rainwater pipes to the sewer and letting stormwater into it. In heavy rain it overloads the sewer and can push sewage back up through gullies.
What should never go down a toilet or drain?
Wet wipes, even the ones labelled flushable, sanitary products, nappies, cooking fat and oil, and building rubble. They are behind most blockages that are not structural.
Request a call-out
Tell us what is happening and where. We phone you back to confirm a time and what we are bringing.
There is no phone line on this website on purpose: every request lands with a person who phones you back, so nothing depends on catching someone between jobs.
Where we work in East London
A service-area business: we come to you, anywhere in the suburbs below and the rest of Buffalo City.
City centre and beachfront
CBD, Quigney, Arcadia, North End, Belgravia, Southernwood, Panmure
Berea side
Selborne, Berea, Vincent, Vincent Heights, Stirling, Bunkers Hill, Baysville, Woodleigh
Nahoon to Gonubie
Nahoon, Nahoon Valley, Bonnie Doon, Abbotsford, Dorchester Heights, Beacon Bay, Bonza Bay, Gonubie, Sunrise-on-Sea
West and north-west
Cambridge, Chiselhurst, Amalinda, Haven Hills, Braelyn, Buffalo Flats, Scenery Park, Reeston, Mdantsane
West Bank and the coast
West Bank, Greenfields, Sunnyridge, Woodbrook, Cove Rock, Winterstrand, Kidd's Beach
Industrial areas
Wilsonia, East London IDZ, Braelyn Industrial