Who pays for the sewer lateral in Alameda County Water District, CA
Which part of the pipe is yours
Yours all the way to the main under the road
Why, and what to doYours from the meter to your building
Who is responsible for which part
The property owner is responsible for the whole lateral, including the run beneath the pavement and the road, up to the point it joins the public main. The District's ordinance goes further than its web page and says the building sewer is owned by the property owner, not merely their responsibility. On a private street or driveway the sewer main itself can be private too, in which case somebody other than the District maintains that as well.
- The property owner
- The District states that "in accordance with District Ordinance No. 34, it is the property owner's responsibility to maintain and repair their own sewer lateral from the house up to the point of connection with the public sanitary sewer main", and spells out what that covers: "both the portion on private property and the portion located beneath the sidewalk and street up to the point where the lateral connects to the public main". The District maintains the public mains themselves - "over 839 miles of pipelines which are generally located within public streets or easements dedicated for District use" - and nothing of the lateral. Ordinance 34.08, which that page cites, states the position in stronger terms than the page does: the building sewer serving a property is owned by the property owner, who is responsible for constructing, maintaining, repairing and replacing it, including the lateral sewer - the ordinance's name for the length from the property line out to the main. It also requires owners to keep that pipe in a condition that prevents overflows and spills, and treats a building sewer found not to be properly maintained as a public nuisance, abated under the District's separate Sewer Use Ordinance. That ordinance is worth knowing about before anything goes wrong. Its section 7.01 declares a discharge in breach of the regulations a public nuisance to be corrected or abated as the Manager directs, and 7.02 says what it costs: where a discharge from a private sewer lateral creates or threatens a public nuisance the District has to abate, the District may recover the cost of its time and materials from the property owner, together with interest and attorneys' fees, under the Health and Safety Code section that collects such sums on the property tax roll. So the bill for a spill from your lateral is not capped at the clean-up.
- What else is worth knowing
- Whether the sewer main your lateral joins is the District's at all. The District accepts and maintains mains in the public right-of-way and in sewer easements dedicated to it, and that is the ordinary case. Where a main was built in a private street or driveway, Ordinance 34.08 lets the District decline to adopt it and instead require the property owner, the developer or a homeowners' association to own and maintain it as a private main sewer, under a maintenance agreement the District approves. If that is your street, the pipe your lateral connects to is somebody's private responsibility as well as the lateral itself, and whose is settled by that maintenance agreement. Ask the District which case your street is in before you assume the main is theirs. Three practical points if you are about to do the work. The permit covers three on-site inspections - a pre-job consultation, one before backfill, and a final - and further visits are charged. Anything backfilled before the District has seen it has to be dug up again for inspection. And starting without the permit costs a penalty on top of the ordinary fees, with the District able to refuse the contractor permits for future work in its area.
What is required
These requirements are issued by Union Sanitary District, not by Alameda County Water District.
"before any work is begun, a USD repair permit is required (even for repairs on private property)". It adds that "if a sewer lateral repair involves digging in a street or other public right-of-way, an encroachment permit will also be required", and that those "are available from the agency that maintains the street. In most cases, this is the city".
What to do: Get the District's repair permit before work starts, on (510) 477-7500, whichever side of the property line the work is on. If the job reaches the street, ask your city for the encroachment permit as well - the District publishes the numbers: Fremont (510) 494-4700, Newark (510) 578-4589, Union City (510) 675-5305.
Union Sanitary District, "Sewer Repairs"Why this matters
The words in brackets are the unusual part. Every other permit requirement BelowGrid holds is about the road, and leaves a homeowner free to dig in their own garden. This one covers the whole lateral on either side of the property line, before any work begins. And a repair that reaches the street needs a second permit from a second body - so replacing a lateral that runs under the road means dealing with the District and the City, neither of whom mentions the other's requirement as your problem.
Knocking a building down here needs the District's permission before the city will give you its own. Union Sanitary District states that "in order to obtain a demolition permit from the cities of Fremont, Newark or Union City, you will be required to obtain a Demolition/Sewer Capping Permit from Union Sanitary District". The reason is the pipe left behind: the District's inspector "will verify that the lateral is properly capped", and it requires capping "so that debris will not get into our sewer lines".
What to do: Apply to the District before applying to the city, because the city's demolition permit depends on this one. Decide early whether the lateral is being abandoned or kept - if it is being kept, budget for a CCTV survey before reconnection, and ask the District what it will accept as a pass. The capping itself is the owner's contractor's work, not the District's.
Union Sanitary District, DemolitionsWhy this matters
The order matters more than the paperwork - this permit comes before the city's, not after it, so a demolition booked on the city's timetable alone will stall. The money is published, which is rarer than it should be: "the total permit/inspection fee will be $200, plus a $500 refundable deposit", and the deposit comes back on final inspection. And the lateral need not be a write-off. The District allows the existing one to be reused, on a condition worth knowing before anyone fills the trench: the lateral "can be temporarily capped or permanently abandoned", and "if you choose to reuse your existing lateral, you will be required to televise that lateral before re-connecting". A camera survey of an old lateral is cheap next to a new one, and it is the decision point between the two.
Who governs and serves this area
- Jurisdiction
- Alameda County Water District (special district)
Where else this answer applies
The same authorities settle this in 3 other places BelowGrid publishes: Fremont, Newark and Union City. The answer there is the same one because it is the same authority, not because the pages were copied.
What BelowGrid cannot say yet
- No assistance or grant programme has been reviewed for this jurisdiction yet.
Compare the rules city by city
Where the line falls here cannot be placed on the same scale as the towns next to it, so there is no strip to draw. The rules themselves still compare.
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