Rain barrels and downspout disconnection: what to know before you change a downspout

Updated November 10, 2026 · KeystoneProGuide editorial team

What does disconnecting a downspout mean?

Taking roof water out of a pipe or off a paved surface and sending it somewhere it can soak in. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says downspouts are often aimed at a driveway, which sends the water straight into the street, or are connected to an underground pipe that leads directly to the sanitary sewer or storm drain. Disconnection, in its words, redirects the water to a rain barrel or to a lawn or garden where it can soak into the ground, which helps reduce runoff from the property.

The EPA also adds a caution that matters: disconnection may not be appropriate for all locations. It says to consider local regulations and where the water will go, to avoid property damage, unsafe conditions or other problems.

When could a disconnection cause problems?

When the water ends up near the house, a neighbor's property or a walkway. The guidance on where roof water should go is consistent:

• The EPA's mold guidance says gutters should carry rainwater at least 5 feet from the foundation, with the ground sloping away.
• The Department of Energy's Building America guidance says a downspout's pipe should end at least 5 feet from the foundation on ground that slopes away, or feed an underground catchment at least 10 feet away that is not connected to the foundation drain.

A downspout cut off above a sewer connection and left to pour onto the ground beside a basement wall would meet neither. If you do not have a lawn or bed far enough from the house, and sloping the right way, disconnection may be one of the cases the EPA means when it says the practice is not right everywhere.

Does changing a downspout need a permit?

Possibly, for underground work. Pennsylvania's Uniform Construction Code regulation says ordinary repairs do not need a permit, but it lists among the things that are not ordinary repairs the addition to or relocation of any sewer, drainage or drain leader piping. The regulation does not define a drain leader or mention gutters. If the job involves cutting, capping or re-routing a pipe that runs underground, ask your municipal building code office before it starts.

How do you use a rain barrel safely?

Rain barrels catch roof water for later use on lawns, gardens or indoor plants, and the EPA says many cities and towns distribute them through annual sales. Three precautions come up in the sources.

1. Give it an overflow that goes somewhere safe. Building America says a few inches of rain on a roof can produce several thousand gallons of runoff. Its training images show a rain barrel without an overflow spout as wrong, and one with an overflow spout that ends at least 5 feet from the foundation as right.
2. Keep mosquitoes out. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says to tightly cover water storage containers, naming rain barrels, so mosquitoes cannot lay eggs in them, and to use wire mesh with holes smaller than an adult mosquito on any container without a lid. Penn State Extension lists backyard containers holding water among the main sources of mosquito infestations in Pennsylvania yards.
3. Think before watering food. The EPA says water running over a roof can pick up bacteria from birds and other animals and chemicals from roof materials, and that this is worth considering before using barrel water on edible plants.

What help is there in Philadelphia?

More than anywhere else in the region, as far as this guide could find. In much of Philadelphia a single pipe carries stormwater and wastewater together, and the Water Department says heavy rain can overwhelm this combined system and send it overflowing into rivers and streams. Two programs pay for downspout changes:

• Rain Check is open to Philadelphia residential properties. It offers a free rain barrel and cost-share tools including a metal downspout planter, a rain garden and permeable pavers. You first attend a virtual workshop, offered January through October. Cost-share tools need a $25 property consultation, and an optional $25 Whole House Assessment is available. When this guide was written, barrel installations were paused for the season until March 2027.
• The Basement Backup Protection Program is for homeowners whose basements back up through their plumbing in wet weather. It provides free backwater valves and free downspout modifications where water from the roof's gutter is flowing back into the home through the sewer pipe. Licensed contractors do the work with a one-year warranty, and after that, repairs and maintenance are the owner's.

On billing, the Water Department says the residential stormwater charge is a flat fee based on the average city property rather than on your own roof.

What about the suburban counties?

No county-wide program for Bucks, Chester, Delaware or Montgomery was found for this guide. The EPA notes that many towns distribute rain barrels through annual sales, so ask your township or borough, and ask at the same time whether its rules allow a downspout to be disconnected from a sewer line.

For the drainage side of the question, can clogged gutters cause a wet basement covers distances and grading in more detail, and the cost guide gives published prices for downspout work. Local businesses are on the gutter cleaning directory page.

Sources

1. Soak Up the Rain: Disconnect / Redirect Downspouts, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
2. Soak Up the Rain: Rain Barrels, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
3. Gutters and Downspouts, U.S. Department of Energy, Building America Solution Center
4. Mosquito Control at Home, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
5. Mosquito Biology and Control, Penn State Extension
6. 34 Pa. Code 403.62. Permit requirements and exemptions., Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Code)
7. Stormwater, Philadelphia Water Department
8. Rain Check, Philadelphia Water Department
9. Basement Backup Protection Program, City of Philadelphia
10. Stormwater Billing, Philadelphia Water Department