A soakaway pit is an excavation backfilled with clean stone, wrapped in geotextile, that receives runoff and lets it infiltrate slowly into the surrounding soil. Water goes in during the storm and leaves over the following hours or days, which is exactly what an overloaded drainage system needs.
For driveway work it solves a specific problem: you want more hard surface, and the extra runoff has nowhere sensible to go.
Where it makes sense
- You are widening or extending a driveway and adding impervious area.
- Downspouts currently discharge onto the driveway, which then sheds toward the house or the neighbour.
- The lot is flat enough that surface grading alone won't move water away.
- Permeable paving isn't the right call, but you still need somewhere for water to go.
Ottawa clay, and being straight about it
Much of Ottawa sits on clay that infiltrates slowly. A soakaway in clay works more as storage with slow release than as true infiltration, and it has to be sized for that. Undersized pits in clay fill up, stay full and stop doing anything, which is how soakaways get an undeserved reputation.
Two things follow. The pit needs to be bigger in clay than the same pit would be in sand. And it needs proper separation from your foundation — putting a reservoir of water beside a basement wall is not an improvement.
The rebate
| Practice | Maximum rebate |
|---|---|
| Permeable pavements | Up to $5,000 |
| Rain garden installation | Up to $2,500 |
| Soakaway pit installation | Up to $2,500 |
| Downspout redirection | Up to $1,000 |
| Certified landscape design | $500 |
A soakaway pit is rebated up to $2,500. It can be combined with other practices, subject to the program's overall limits, and the same eligibility applies.
To qualify you must be located in a Priority Stormwater Retrofit Area, and satisfy one of these four routes:
- Have completed a Rain Ready Ottawa home assessment, or
- Be working with a certified Fusion Landscape Professional, or
- For a permeable pavement project, be working with a certified Concrete Masonry and Hardscape Professional, or
- Have completed the relevant Rain Ready Ottawa eLearning courses.
That third option is the useful one for a paving job. If your contractor holds the Concrete Masonry and Hardscape Professional certification, you can qualify for a permeable pavement rebate without booking a home assessment first — which takes a step and a wait out of the process.
It is not retroactive. Your application has to be submitted and approved before construction starts. Work already done, or invoices predating the program approval date, are not eligible. Every year somebody builds first and asks second.
It is first-come, first-served. Rebates are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis for eligible households, so the funding for a given year can run out. Applying early in the season matters.
Full rebate guide → · Eligibility pre-check →
Locates before digging
A soakaway is a real excavation, often in the front or side yard where services run. Ontario One Call locates are required before anyone digs, and the Rain Ready terms make securing necessary permits and approvals your responsibility — failing to do so voids the application.
Adding hard surface and worried about drainage?
Tell us what you're planning and where the water currently goes. We'll say whether a soakaway, permeable paving or plain grading is the right answer.