Drain Cleaning
Kitchen, bath and laundry clogs from the pre-1980 houses east of Merle Hay Road to newer builds on the western edge. We clear the stoppage and run water to prove the line drains.
Learn moreLOCAL EXPERTS
Where Johnston Sewer
Trouble Starts
Johnston is a growing suburb on the northwest edge of the Des Moines metro, and Clog Busters serves it from our Des Moines branch at 3950 Vandalia Rd. The U.S. Census Bureau counted 17,278 residents in 2010 and 24,064 in 2020, and its QuickFacts estimate puts Johnston at 25,065 as of July 1, 2025. Its land area grew from 17.16 to 19.39 square miles over the same decade.
Established in 1969, the city is split up by its landscape. The Johnston Thrive 2040 Comprehensive Plan, adopted November 2, 2020, describes Beaver Creek dividing east from west and Camp Dodge taking up about 2,500 acres of city land, with the Des Moines River and Saylorville Lake on its border. The plan dates most single-family homes after 1980, with the larger subdivisions on the western edge and the pre-1980 houses mostly east of Merle Hay Road.
Inflow and infiltration means rainwater or groundwater getting into sanitary sewer pipes meant to carry only wastewater, and the Thrive 2040 plan sets reducing it as a city goal. Johnston moves its wastewater through more than 65 miles of collection lines and a series of lift stations to the Des Moines Wastewater Reclamation Authority, and pays its share of treatment in proportion to the flow it sends. The plan names the usual entry points:
- Inflow: storm runoff through broken manhole covers, sewer cleanouts, sump pumps, foundation drains and rain leaders.
- Infiltration: groundwater seeping through cracks and loose joints in sewer mains, service laterals and worn manholes.
Several of these entry points sit on private lots. A cleanout cap split by a mower lets yard runoff pour straight into the lateral. A sump pump piped into a floor drain or laundry tub sends groundwater where it does not belong. A cracked or rooted lateral under an older east side yard lets water in and roots through. The camera tells us which of these you have. Lateral fixes go trenchless where the pipe allows.
New streets keep tying in. The plan calls for carrying the Beaver Creek trunk sewer north to serve the Northwest Planning Area.
Jarod Smith opened Clog Busters in 2020; our Vandalia Rd crew handles Johnston alongside the rest of the Des Moines metro. For a single job, start with Johnston sewer repair, drain cleaning in Johnston or after-hours plumbing help in Johnston. Ready now? Book a Johnston appointment.
