Toronto’s Mandatory Downspout Disconnection: Which Homes Must Comply and When an Exemption Applies
If you’re sure your downspout can’t come off the sewer, start there. The exemption rules explain the whole by-law better than the rule itself.
Which Toronto properties have to disconnect their downspouts from the sewer?
Every property owner in the City of Toronto. Under Municipal Code Chapter 681, §681-11 S, a downspout from any building may not be connected to a combined or storm sewer in the combined sewer area (S(3)), to a storm sewer in the Basement Flooding Study Areas (S(4)), or to a storm sewer anywhere else in the city (S(5)); new or reconstructed buildings may not drain roof water to any sanitary, combined or storm sewer connection at all (S(2)). The City’s own page states it plainly: disconnection is “mandatory for all property owners in Toronto”, with an exemption available only where disconnecting would be hazardous or, for existing connections, not technically feasible.
Source: City of Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 681, Sewers, §681-11 S (consolidation footer May 15, 2023); City of Toronto, Mandatory Downspout Disconnection page (2025)
I’m Arthur Zhao, a real estate broker in Toronto. The downspout conversation worth having doesn’t start with “how do I disconnect it.” It starts with an owner saying “mine can’t be disconnected.” Picture a townhouse with a backyard barely wider than its back steps: the rear downspout comes down beside the stairs and drops into a pipe in the ground, and on the other side of the fence is the neighbour’s patio. Cut that downspout and let it run on the surface, and the water lands either on the steps or next door.
That owner may be right. Toronto’s sewer by-law anticipates exactly this kind of lot and lets the owner apply for an exemption. So this piece runs the rule backwards: first what the exemption asks of you and who decides it, then what “can’t” legally means, then the rule that applies to everyone who doesn’t qualify, where the water has to go after disconnection, and what the City can do if nothing changes. One scope note: this is Toronto only. Other GTA municipalities have their own by-laws, and you should check yours.
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Start with the exemption: what you can ask for, and who decides
The exemption sits in §681-11 S(6) of Chapter 681. An owner “may make an application to the General Manager for an exemption” where disconnecting downspouts on a property “would create a hazardous condition or is not technically feasible.” The General Manager here is the General Manager of Toronto Water (or a designate), per the chapter’s definitions.
Subsection S(7) sets the terms of the application in one sentence: the owner “shall supply such plans, photographs and other documentation as the General Manager may request and, in each case, the determination of an exemption shall be in the General Manager’s sole discretion.”
The City’s Mandatory Downspout Disconnection page adds the practical layer the by-law leaves out:
- Before applying, owners “should make every effort” to disconnect, by relocating one or more downspouts, re-grading eavestroughs, or correcting the slope or grading on the property.
- The application is the City’s Mandatory Downspout Disconnection Exemption Application, which includes a property sketch; the City posts a sample application and a sample sketch.
- The review considers factors that “include, but are not limited to” relocation options, the ability to mitigate hazards or correct grading, and compliance with other municipal by-laws and statutory regulations.
- The decision comes in writing “for each connected downspout,” so a house with three connected downspouts can come out with one exempted and two not.
- Revocation: the General Manager can revoke an exemption where information provided was misleading or inaccurate, or where property or building conditions change.
⚠️An exemption is discretionary and revocable. Under §681-11 S(7), the determination is in the General Manager’s “sole discretion.” The City’s page says an exemption already issued can be revoked if information provided was misleading or inaccurate, or if property or building conditions change, giving as examples landscaping that is significantly modified or a roof that is rebuilt.
What counts as “can’t”: hazardous versus not technically feasible
Chapter 681 uses two phrases and defines neither of them in its definitions section. What the text does do is treat them differently depending on which prohibition you need relief from.
For an existing connection under S(3), S(4) or S(5), either ground works: disconnecting “would create a hazardous condition or is not technically feasible.” Hazardous is about what the water would do once it’s on the surface. Back to the narrow townhouse yard: if the only place a rear downspout can discharge is onto the back steps, or across the fence onto the neighbour’s patio, that describes a hazard. Not technically feasible is a different claim, that there is no workable way to carry the water anywhere else, for instance because every relocation the City suggests runs into the same stairs, fence and walls. Which description fits a given lot is a call the by-law leaves to the General Manager.
For a new or reconstructed building under S(2), the list is shorter. S(6) allows an application from S(2) only where “compliance with that provision would create a hazardous condition.” The words “not technically feasible” do not appear for S(2). If you are building new or reconstructing, the by-law expects the drainage to be designed around disconnection from the start, and an argument that it simply can’t be done is not one of the grounds the text gives you.
The rule for everyone who doesn’t get an exemption
Subsections S(3) to S(5) were added in two amending by-laws and came into force area by area: first the combined sewer area mapped in Attachment 1, then the Basement Flooding Study Areas in Attachment 2, then “any other area of the City.” Each says the same thing in the same verb: no person shall “permit or maintain” the connection of a downspout “from any building” to the sewer named. Because S(5) catches every area not already covered, the phase-in has closed. According to the City of Toronto (2025), the current position fits in one sentence: “It is mandatory for all property owners in Toronto to ensure their downspouts are disconnected from the City’s sewer system.”
Two features of that wording matter. “Maintain” means an existing connection is caught, not just new work. And “directly or indirectly” means it doesn’t help that the downspout feeds a pipe that later joins the sewer.
Subsection S(1) ties all of this to the Property Standards chapter: unless the General Manager has permitted or authorized a sewer connection in writing, an owner must discharge storm water in a way that complies with §§629-11A, 629-11A.1(1) and 629-20 of Chapter 629.
There is also a separate rule for the sanitary side, set out in the note below.
ℹ️Downspouts draining into the sanitary sewer have their own rule. Under §681-11 Q(1), the owner of any building whose roof water leader discharges storm water, directly or indirectly, into the sanitary sewer connection “shall disconnect the down-pipe from the underground portions at grade” and conduct the water away so it does not accumulate near the building or affect adjacent properties. The exemption clause in S(6) lists subsections S(2) to S(5); it does not mention Q(1).
After disconnection, the water has to stay on your lot
Taking the downspout off the sewer doesn’t end the owner’s obligations. It moves them to the surface, where Chapter 629, Property Standards, takes over:
- §629-20 C(2): any above-ground discharge from a downpipe “shall be directed to discharge and be contained on the property in a manner that is not likely to cause damage to any adjoining property or create a hazardous condition on any stairway, walkway, street or boulevard.”
- §629-11 A: yards must be graded with suitable ground cover to prevent recurrent ponding, unstable soil or erosion, and “so as to direct the flow of surface water away from the walls of all buildings.”
- §629-20 D: eavestroughs and downpipes must be kept free from leaks, defects, obstructions and hazards, water-tight and in good repair.
Chapter 681 has its own version for streets without storm sewers. Under §681-11 M, where a building abuts a street not serviced by a storm sewer, the owner must have the down-pipe discharge at grade “with provisions to prevent soil erosion,” so that storm water “will not accumulate at or near the building and will not adversely affect adjacent properties.”
One wording point, for anyone reading Chapter 629 on its own: if you look only at §629-20 C(1), it still describes a downpipe that discharges “directly into the building drain” as one option. Chapter 681 separately prohibits the downspout-to-sewer connections described above. Chapter 629 does not say which provision governs where they overlap; my reading, which is an inference rather than anything the text states, is that the Chapter 681 prohibition is the one an owner should plan around.
The City’s page turns these standards into practical guidance: water should flow away from the foundation, not onto a neighbour’s property, a driveway or a City sidewalk; use a splash pad against erosion; don’t run an extension across a walkway or in front of a gate or doorway; and remember the flow may freeze in winter. For grading itself, see our earlier piece on lot grading and downspout extensions.
💡 My personal judgment is that, once a downspout is off the sewer, the real legal exposure moves to where the water ends up. Disconnecting satisfies §681-11 S. But a downspout that is disconnected and then pointed at the neighbour’s side yard, or left to sheet across the back steps of a semi, can still fall short of §629-20 C(2), which requires the discharge to be contained on your property without damaging adjoining property or creating a hazard on a stairway or walkway. On a narrow city lot, I’d spend as much thought on the splash pad and extension as on the cut itself.
Disconnected versus exempted: what each status carries
What the City can do if a connection stays in place
Chapter 681’s enforcement tools sit in §681-14.2, and they escalate from an order to the City doing the work itself.
- Order to discontinue (§681-14.2 B, under s.384 of the City of Toronto Act, 2006): the General Manager may order the person who contravened the chapter, or the owner or occupier of the property, to stop the contravening activity.
- Work order (§681-14.2 C, under s.385): the General Manager may order that person, or the owner or occupier, “to do work to correct the contravention.” Contravening the order is itself an offence.
- Remedial action (§681-14.2 D, under s.386): if the work isn’t done, the City may do it “at that person’s expense” and recover the costs “by adding the costs to the tax roll and collecting them in the same manner as municipal property taxes.” The General Manager may enter the property at any reasonable time for this purpose.
Fines require a conviction and are stated as maximums in §681-14.1. An individual faces a fine of not more than $50,000 for a first offence and not more than $75,000 for a subsequent one; a corporation, not more than $100,000. For a continuing offence, the ceiling is $10,000 per day or part day, and the daily fines are not capped at $100,000 in total. A special fine equal to the fair market value of any economic advantage gained from the contravention can be added on top. These are statutory ceilings, not a prediction of what any court would impose.
Before you touch the downspout
Pick the group that matches where you are.
- ☐Try the City’s three fixes first: relocate a downspout, re-grade the eavestrough, correct the lot grading.
- ☐Photograph each connected downspout and whatever sits where its water would land: steps, walkway, a neighbour’s patio or driveway.
- ☐Prepare the property sketch the exemption application asks for, using the City’s sample sketch as a guide.
- ☐Keep the written decision for each downspout with your house records.
- ☐If you are unsure whether your situation qualifies, contact 311 about the Mandatory Downspout Disconnection Program before you apply.
- ☐Measure 23 cm (9 in.) from where the downspout enters the sewer connection, cut with a fine-blade hacksaw, and don’t drop the offcut down the pipe.
- ☐Cap the sewer standpipe with a rubber cap and hose clamp, a PVC cap, or a wingnut test plug and concrete.
- ☐Insert the downspout into the elbow, then the elbow into the extension, and secure them with sheet metal screws.
- ☐Walk the water’s path: away from the foundation, off the neighbour’s side, clear of stairs, walkways, gates, doorways and the sidewalk.
- ☐Hire a City-licensed contractor and get at least three quotes.
- ☐Put the full scope (including site cleanup), the full price and the payment schedule in a written contract.
- ☐Keep the itemized invoice and before-and-after photos of each downspout.
Basement Sewer Smell or Backups After Storms? A Backwater Valve — and Toronto’s Boosted Subsidy — Can Help →Basement Always Damp? Before You Waterproof, Check Whether Your Yard Slopes the Right Way →The Half-Hectare Rule: When Your Backyard Is Big Enough for CRA to Tax Part of Your Home Sale →First-Time Renter Guide →
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there any financial help with disconnecting my downspouts in Toronto?
Possibly. According to the City of Toronto’s Mandatory Downspout Disconnection page, “seniors and persons with a disability may qualify for financial assistance to help with downspout disconnection.” Eligibility rules and the application are on that page, so check it (or call 311) before the work starts and keep your invoices and before-and-after photos.
Can I disconnect the downspout myself, or do I need a licensed contractor?
The City’s page says you can do it yourself or hire a contractor, and it lists the tools and steps for doing it yourself. If you hire someone, the City points to a City-licensed contractor and recommends at least three quotes and a written contract stating the full scope, price and payment schedule.
What do I do with the pipe left sticking out of the ground after disconnecting?
Cap it. The City’s page says to cap the sewer standpipe so that water and debris don’t go in and animals don’t fall into the opening. It suggests a rubber cap secured with a hose clamp, a PVC cap, or a wingnut test plug and concrete if standard caps don’t fit.
Does the downspout rule apply to commercial buildings and condos, or just houses?
The wording isn’t limited to houses. Subsections S(3) to S(5) of Toronto Municipal Code §681-11 cover a downspout “from any building,” and S(2) names new or reconstructed residential, industrial, commercial and institutional buildings. Chapter 681 defines an owner to include anyone with authority or control over a property on an owner’s behalf; how responsibility is divided inside a condominium corporation, the chapter doesn’t address directly.
Who decides whether disconnecting is “not technically feasible” on my lot?
The General Manager of Toronto Water. Under §681-11 S(7), the determination of an exemption is in the General Manager’s sole discretion, and Chapter 681 does not define “not technically feasible” or “hazardous condition.” The City’s page says the review weighs relocation options, the ability to mitigate hazards or correct grading, and compliance with other by-laws.
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