Permits & Rules
Do I need a permit for drainage work in Pennsylvania?
It depends on the scope and the municipality. Requirements are set at township and borough level rather than county-wide or statewide, and work that affects a stormwater system, a floodplain or a regulated earth-disturbance threshold is treated very differently from a contained residential run.
In more detail
Because the requirement is municipal, the only reliable answer for your property comes from your own township or borough. Across Chester, Delaware and Montgomery County that means dozens of separate ordinances.
Work that discharges into a municipal stormwater system, alters a drainage easement, or disturbs more than a threshold area of earth generally triggers a review. A short interception run releasing to a point within the same property frequently does not.
Where a property is in a homeowners association, architectural review may be a separate process on its own timeline regardless of what the township requires.
We confirm what applies to your specific address before work begins rather than assuming.
More questions
Other permits & rules questions
Find the cause before you pay for a fix.
On-site assessment. Free written estimate. No obligation.