Who pays for the sewer lateral in Dublin, 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
Why, and what to do
If something’s wrong
Who to call first about the sewer lateral
Dublin San Ramon Services District (DSRSD) (925) 828-8524
Hours, after-hours and sourcesIf a repair needs a permit or an inspection
- Who issues it:
- City of Dublin
- What it covers:
- any excavation in a street, and placing a pipe under one
Dublin San Ramon Services District puts a Dublin owner's sewer lateral all the way to the main in the middle of the street, so replacing one means opening the road - and the road is the City's, not the District's. Dublin Municipal Code section 7.04.160(A) provides that no person shall "place on, over or under such street any pipe line, conduit, or other fixture" or "make any excavation or embankment in such a way as to endanger the normal usage of the street without having first obtained a permit as required in this chapter". Section 7.04.210(A) requires a deposit before the permit issues, "in a sum to be fixed by the City Engineer as sufficient to reimburse the city for costs of restoring the street to its former condition", and section 7.04.330(A) requires the permittee to "notify the City Engineer at least twenty-four (24) hours in advance of beginning work".
Who is responsible for which part
Who to call first
Dublin San Ramon Services District (DSRSD)
Alameda County Sheriff Dispatch: (925) 462-1212
What happens: the District assesses the problem and decides whether to send out its staff
The whole lateral is yours, all the way to the main in the middle of the street - and the District says so in the words a homeowner would use, going out of its way to say the line is not at the property line or the curb.
- The property owner
- Everything from the house to the main. The District states that "the property owner is responsible for the service pipeline between the house and the sewer main, which is usually located in the center of the street", and that DSRSD "is responsible for the sewer main that carries the wastewater from individual residences to the plant for treatment". It puts the same point in plainer terms first, saying that many owners do not realise they own the pipes at all - the District calls them "private service lines or laterals" - and that "if service pipelines clog, leak or break, it is the property owner's responsibility to contact a plumber and pay for repairs".
What else is worth knowing
Sources
Dublin San Ramon Services District, Sewer Lateral ResponsibilityWhat the rules say
Most relevant if you are selling or buying
No rule on file here is specific to selling or buying; that does not mean none exists.
Also in force here
- Who issues it:
- City of Dublin
- What it covers:
- any excavation in a street, and placing a pipe under one
Dublin San Ramon Services District puts a Dublin owner's sewer lateral all the way to the main in the middle of the street, so replacing one means opening the road - and the road is the City's, not the District's. Dublin Municipal Code section 7.04.160(A) provides that no person shall "place on, over or under such street any pipe line, conduit, or other fixture" or "make any excavation or embankment in such a way as to endanger the normal usage of the street without having first obtained a permit as required in this chapter". Section 7.04.210(A) requires a deposit before the permit issues, "in a sum to be fixed by the City Engineer as sufficient to reimburse the city for costs of restoring the street to its former condition", and section 7.04.330(A) requires the permittee to "notify the City Engineer at least twenty-four (24) hours in advance of beginning work".
What to do: Ask Public Works for the encroachment permit fee and the restoration deposit in writing before you accept a plumber's quotation, and ask whether the quotation includes restoring the street and the two-year guaranty. A contractor who has not priced those is pricing a different job. The permit is the City's; the lateral itself is Dublin San Ramon Services District's subject, so expect to deal with both.
Dublin Municipal Code chapter 7.04, EncroachmentsWhy this matters
The cost does not stop when the trench is filled. Section 7.04.370(A) runs a guaranty for two years after the City Engineer's final inspection, in which the permittee "shall repair any injury or damage to any portion of the street which occurs as the result of work done under the permit, including any and all injury or damage to the street which would not have occurred had such work not been done". So a Dublin owner who replaces a lateral carries the road surface above it for two years, and section 7.04.340 has already required them to "replace, repair, or restore the street at the place of work to the same condition existing prior thereto" before that period starts. Neither the deposit nor the permit fee is published as a figure - both are set by the City Engineer case by case.
What this page cannot tell you
- No assistance or grant programme has been reviewed for this jurisdiction yet.
Who governs and serves this area
- Jurisdiction
- Dublin (municipality)
- Sewer service
How this compares to neighbouring cities
5 of the 8 nearest cities draw the line somewhere else. Each authority publishes only its own rule.
Your other pipe: the water service line
The drinking water line coming into your property is a separate pipe, run by a separate authority, and who is responsible for it is decided separately. Your sewer lateral is yours to the main; your water line stops being yours at the meter.
Who owns the water service line in DublinNearby cities and further reading
Look up a specific address
This page describes what applies to properties in Dublin in general. To see which authorities serve one address, and what records exist for it, search for it.
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