Collapsed Storm Sewer Connected to Sanitary Sewer

[Julie25]

Is this ok?

My house has separate sanitary and storm sewers. The storm sewer collects the water from 3 roof gutters and 2 drains in the driveway. It runs parallel to my house under the driveway. As it reaches the front of my house it turns into my basement and then turns out the front of the basement toward the street. It is completely exposed in the basement, but underground when outside.

The storm line is collapsed and a plumber recommended that instead of digging it up and replacing it, I should cut the storm line in the basement and connect it to the sanitary line (which runs under the basement and is only a foot away). He would add a new trap to the storm line before it connects to the sanitary line. Although the sanitary line is exposed in a pit before leaving the house, he recommended breaking up the floor earlier, so that he could make the connection before the vent.

I like this route because it is *much* cheaper that replacing fixing the collapse ($12-15k; and I don’t really have options for runoffs outside or drainage pits). But I’m concerned that if there is heavy rainfall, the sanitary line might not be able to take on the additional burden and it would then back up into the house. (I think the storm pipe is larger than the sanitary, which adds to my concern.) And a different plumber recommended against connecting the 2 lines because the storm line collects leaves and other debris that could block up my sanitary line.

Question #1: Is there really anything wrong if I connect the storm line to the sanitary? Will it overburden the sanitary line?
Question #2: Even if it works fine, is this a code issue? The original plumber told me it is only a code issue to connect the sanitary line to the storm line. But googling I found some towns that do inspections to make sure people haven’t tapped into the sanitary line for storm water.

Thank you for any advice!

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