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Coverage

Sewer lateral responsibility in California

The jurisdictions BelowGrid currently covers in California. Coverage means BelowGrid can identify the authorities for an address there; it does not mean every local requirement has been reviewed.

What differs across California

  • 30 of the 47 cities that require something regulate their own sewer laterals. The rest defer to a wider body (Carmel Area Wastewater District, East Bay Regional Private Sewer Lateral Program, Ojai Valley Sanitary District and 6 others), so the paperwork differs on either side of a city line.
More findings (4)
  • Arcata, Avalon, Berkeley, Burlingame, Colfax, Eureka, Grass Valley, Hercules, Hillsborough, Imperial Beach, Mill Valley, Millbrae, Monterey, Morgan Hill, Nevada City, Pacific Grove, Pacifica, Pinole, Placerville, Richmond, San Bruno, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, San Rafael, Santa Cruz, South San Francisco, Ventura, Watsonville, Whittier and Willits run their own programmes, so a certificate issued under a neighbouring city's scheme is not the same document.
  • In 8 of the 55 cities with a recorded rule on sale, the answer is that nothing is required when a property is sold: Danville, Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, Rancho Palos Verdes, San Leandro and Walnut Creek. Central Contra Costa Sanitary District, Rancho Palos Verdes and San Leandro state so directly.
  • These requirements did not arrive together: Grass Valley's dates from 2008 and Vallejo's from 2025. A property sold before the relevant date will not have been subject to it.
  • Who owns the pipe is not settled either. Alameda, Albany, American Canyon and 61 others take part of the lower lateral - the run between the property line and the main, which is the half needing the road opened - as its owner, its maintainer or for a narrower duty such as clearing it. Alhambra, Alturas, Anaheim and 237 others state the owner is responsible for the whole length instead. None of them publishes that the others disagree, and a quote that crosses the property line means something different on each side of it.

See the requirements side by sideSee who helps pay for a repair

Jurisdictions

See these drawn on a map of California

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By county

Counties with at least one city BelowGrid has researched:

Other counties (9), no city researched yet

What this page does not tell you

  • This is not every city in the state. 406 of the 489 places listed here have a published answer; the others show only which authorities serve them. 355 of those 406 also have a reviewed local requirement. If your city is missing, its code has not been read yet; that says nothing about the city itself.