Yes. Underground sewers, drains and land-drains are particularly susceptible to Japanese knotweed. The knotweed rhizome will find its way into the smallest hole on a pipe joint to find water. The rhizome will continue to grow gradually blocking the drain and finally breaking it apart. We also have anecdotal evidence of Japanese knotweed being spread down surface water drains. Pieces of rhizome break off the parent plant and are conveyed down the pipe, infesting the watercourse with Japanese knotweed at the point of discharge.
