Who is responsible for the sewer lateral in Claremont, CA?

Who pays for the sewer lateral in Claremont, CA

Which part of the pipe is yours

Sewer lateral
Yours all the way to the main under the road
Why, and what to do

The thick length is yours.

If something’s wrong

If a repair needs a permit or an inspection

Before work on the pipe · Permit
Who issues it:

City of Claremont engineering department, with the street superintendent for the street excavation permit
What it covers:

any excavation in public property, installing a sewer in it or connecting to a public sewer, and any excavation in a public street, alley or sidewalk to install, repair or remove a pipe
Claremont Municipal Code section 13.04.010 makes it unlawful "to make or cause to be made any excavation in public property or to install or cause to be installed any sewer therein, or to make or cause to be made any connection to a public sewer, without first having made application to, and having obtained the proper permit therefor from the engineering department of the City." Section 12.04.010 separately requires "a written permit" from the street superintendent before any excavation in a public street, alley or sidewalk "for the installation, repair or removal of any pipe". The owner's lateral runs under the street to the City's main, so these are the City permits for digging there to reach it.

The repair rule in full, with its sources

Buying or selling?

No rule on file here is specific to selling or buying; that does not mean none exists.

Planning work?

The remodelling rule in full, with its sources

Who to call first about the sewer lateral

BelowGrid has no first-call guidance on file from Claremont about the sewer lateral.

Claremont: official site(opens in a new tab)The documents this answer is built on

Who is responsible for which part

Claremont puts the whole lateral on the property owner, from the building to the City's sewer main. Section 13.02.080 of the municipal code provides that "All necessary maintenance, repair and replacement of the sewer lateral are the sole responsibility of the property owner", and defines the lateral as "that length of sewer pipe located between the building being served on the property and the City's main sewer line." The City's sewer page says the same: these lines "must be maintained by individual property owners, from the house out to where it connects to the City's main line (usually in the middle of the street)."

The property owner: The whole lateral, the part under the street included, from the building to the City's main sewer line. Section 13.02.080 provides that "All sewer laterals shall be maintained in a safe and sanitary condition and in good working order, by the owner of the property served by such sewer lateral", and places the lateral between the building and the main. The code does not say whether the joint where the lateral meets the main is the owner's or the City's; under section 13.04.040 a connection made where the main has no "Y" branch is made "in the presence of an inspector of the engineering department of the City".

What else is worth knowing

The City keeps the main: its sewer page says the main lines "are maintained by the Community Services Department", and the City's sewer system management plan says the collection system is owned by the City and operated by it inside the city's boundaries. Not every property is on the sewer. Chapter 13.02 still lets some buildings keep a private septic system until a sewer is available or the system fails, with its own rules for the area of Annexation 52-A, and homes on septic are outside this answer. Where a lot can reach the public sewer only across another lot, section 13.04.070 requires the house connection sewer to run in a recorded private easement carrying the right to lay and maintain it.

Sources

Claremont Municipal Code section 13.02.080, Maintenance of sewer laterals

Also quoted:

Checked 3 Oct 2026 (4 weeks ago)

What the rules say

Most relevant if you are repairing or replacing the pipe

Before work on the pipePermit
Who issues it:

City of Claremont engineering department, with the street superintendent for the street excavation permit
What it covers:

any excavation in public property, installing a sewer in it or connecting to a public sewer, and any excavation in a public street, alley or sidewalk to install, repair or remove a pipe
Claremont Municipal Code section 13.04.010 makes it unlawful "to make or cause to be made any excavation in public property or to install or cause to be installed any sewer therein, or to make or cause to be made any connection to a public sewer, without first having made application to, and having obtained the proper permit therefor from the engineering department of the City." Section 12.04.010 separately requires "a written permit" from the street superintendent before any excavation in a public street, alley or sidewalk "for the installation, repair or removal of any pipe". The owner's lateral runs under the street to the City's main, so these are the City permits for digging there to reach it.
What to do: Before digging in the street to reach a lateral, apply to the City of Claremont Engineering Division for the sewer permit and the street excavation permit, ask what deposit will be required, and plan to finish the work and refill the trench within thirty days of the permit.
Why this matters
The street permit is written with house connections in mind. Under section 12.04.120, "Every permit for making a house connection to a sewer or for making repairs to the same shall become void unless all work to be done pursuant thereto shall be done and the excavation refilled" within thirty days of the permit, and the street superintendent may extend that by up to thirty days. Section 12.04.080 requires a special deposit for pavement or sidewalk replacement, of no less than one dollar and fifty cents per square foot of excavation or fifty dollars, whichever is greater, and section 13.04.060 requires a deposit for street repair before any permit to excavate is issued. A plat of the excavation is not required for service connections or repairs (section 12.04.040). Where the main has no "Y" branch, section 13.04.040 has the connection made "in the presence of an inspector of the engineering department of the City". If the work is not finished in time, section 12.04.130 lets the street superintendent refill the excavation and the City keep the special deposit.
Checked 3 Oct 2026 (4 weeks ago)
Claremont Municipal Code section 13.04.010, Connection - Permit required
Also quoted:

What this page cannot tell you

No assistance or grant programme has been reviewed for this jurisdiction yet.
No sewer service territory has been mapped for this area, so BelowGrid cannot say who serves an individual address.

Who governs and serves this area

Jurisdiction: Claremont (municipality)
Sewer service: No map of sewer providers is held here. BelowGrid cannot say which sewer provider serves an individual address.

How this compares to neighbouring cities

2 of the 8 nearest cities draw the line somewhere else. Each authority publishes only its own rule.

Claremont(this page)
the main
Uplandabout 3 mi
the main, including the connection fitting on the main
Pomonaabout 5 mi
the main, including the connection fitting on the main
San Dimasabout 5 mi
the main
Diamond Barabout 11 mi
the main
Walnutabout 10 mi
the main
Covinaabout 10 mi
the main
West Covinaabout 12 mi
the main
La Puenteabout 15 mi
the main

Distances are approximate, in a straight line between the places’ centres.

Compare the rules city by city

Nearby cities and further reading

Look up a specific address

This page describes what applies to properties in Claremont in general. To see which authorities serve one address, and what records exist for it, search for it.

Search for an address