water drain pipe not working

[pdw0005]

1. set up roads to and from highway

2. build water pump

3. build drain pipe downstream

4. connect pump and drain pipe

5. build pipe to supply residential zone

6. build coal power plant

7. use pylons to power pump and drain pipe

8. use pylons to supply residents with power

I check and all pylons are blue and pipes are green and blue, and sewage is being produced by residents, drain pipe reads not operating with no additional info, what am i doing wrong?

note: used same basic setup each time across multiple new games, one time it worked, the other times it hasn't.

[CyberVibes]

What does it say in the water overlay, go to top left hand icon and click the water icon and see if the drain pipe capacity is recognised

[snowflitzer]

Please share a screenshot

[BeantownFan73]

The op could be on to something - this is a problem I’ve had myself with any water related building. Usually it corrects itself after I put the speed on 3x and let it run a bit, so I’ve never came here to ask about it.

For example, I’ll plop a waste treatment plant, connect it to power and water pipe and it will sit there not operating for quite some time.

Sometimes even after on 3x speed for a while, it still won’t operate, so I shut it off, wait a minute or two then turn it back on and sometimes that works and other times it doesn’t.

I’ve also had to use the relocate button in the info panel to move it to a spot nearby (or I used move it, doesn’t matter) and again, sometimes that triggers it into operating normally and other times it doesn’t work.

So something is definitely not right there. I first noticed it with my custom assets that I tweaked myself in the editor and when I used the vanilla versions they all worked fine. Now it happens with all of them, vanilla and custom.

For me, it’s only been the water related buildings - Electricity, Services, etc...all have worked fine.

Lastly - in my games, when not operating, the overlay shows that there isn’t any sewage service, however, none of the buildings in the game complain about sewage backup. When I shut the problem sewage plant off, then all the sewage icons flash above the buildings. Turn it back on, still doesn’t work (shows as black instead of highlighted/glowing in the overlay) and all the icons disappear. Strange...very strange.

[Arctic Fox]

I have had exactly the same issues as @BeantownFan73. It happens inconsistently. Only with the sewer. No sewage comes out- the sewers building says ‘not operating’, but no sims complain about it. I can usually get it working by moving the sewage building to a new site, usually only moving it a few metres to the left or right.

[WBKotter]

If the citizens are not complaining, don’t worry about it. The outlet can not pump sewage that isn’t there yet. Just give it a little time. It will start pumping or your citizens will let you know there is trouble and it will be easier to trace when you know better where to look. If you watch pumps almost never start spewing sewage immediately.

[jshutich]

I have seen this several different games myself. My answer has always been to relocate the sewage pipe (take the relocate budget hit) and it is all good. It is random, some games no problem others the sewage pipe refuses to work even after letting it run for a while. You sit there watch it, it has water connection and power, what more dose it need? It only happens at the start of a new city, the first sewage pipe. I have never had any issue with the fresh water pumps.

[jshutich]

I figured this out a little bit. You start a new city and immediately set the budget for water to 50%. This stopped my water system. Set the budget to 60% instead of 50% and the problem does not happen.