Who pays for the sewer lateral in Emeryville, CA
Which part of the pipe is yours
Yours all the way to the main, including the fitting where it joins
Why, and what to doYours from the meter to your building
Why, and what to do
If something’s wrong
If a repair needs a permit or an inspection
- Who issues it:
- City of Emeryville
- What it covers:
- any repair, replacement or abandonment of a private lateral, and any verification test
The City of Emeryville states that "a permit is required for any repair, replacement, or abandonment, or for a verification test on a private sewer lateral", and opens its guidance with a safety warning: "before any work is performed on your sewer, please call PG&E ... to determine if a small-diameter gas pipeline crosses through your sewer lateral". A City Public Works Inspector "is required to come for all sewer lateral work" and "usually comes a total of five times for each project"; the EBMUD verification test "must be witnessed by a representative from EBMUD and the City PW Inspector" and "cannot be performed until after the City PW Inspector has completed the third call". The City adds that "in most cases, a private sewer lateral will not pass the verification test unless some repair or replacement is performed". Two things the Municipal Code adds are worth having before you apply. Clearing a blockage is outside all of this: section 7-8.202 provides that "no sewer lateral permit shall be required for the clearance of sewer stoppages in a building sewer lateral". And where a permit IS needed, it is the only one - issuing it "shall satisfy the requirements of Chapter 2 of Title 7 regarding excavations and encroachments in the public right-of-way", so there is no separate encroachment permit to apply for. The application has to be made in person by the owner's licensed contractor.
Buying or selling?
A Compliance Certificate is required to close escrow when a property is sold or transferred. A certificate is valid twenty years after a complete replacement and seven years otherwise.
A 180-day extension is available when buying or selling: if a Compliance Certificate cannot be obtained before title transfers, a Time Extension Certificate allows 180 days for the work, and is valid only when returned with a $4,500 deposit at title transfer.
Planning work?
Where a permit is sought for new construction or for remodelling costing more than $100,000, a Compliance Certificate is required before the final permit or approval is obtained.
Who to call first about the sewer lateral
Emeryville: official site(opens in a new tab)The documents this answer is built on
Who is responsible for which part
The whole pipe is yours, and the City says so in its definitions rather than leaving it to be worked out. The building sewer lateral runs from two feet outside the building "up to and including the connection to the public sewer", and the code states that it "is comprised of the upper sewer lateral and lower sewer lateral and is the sole responsibility of the property owner". That includes the run under the pavement and the road, and the fitting where it meets the main.
- The property owner
- Everything from two feet outside the building to the public sewer, including the connection itself, and to a standard the code sets out rather than leaves to inference. The lateral must be "kept free from roots, grease deposits, and other solids that may impede the flow"; "all joints shall be tight and all pipes shall be sound to prevent exfiltration by waste or infiltration by groundwater or stormwater"; the pipe must be "free of any structural defects, cracks, breaks, or missing portions and the grade shall be uniform without sags or offsets"; no "area drains, foundation drains, roof leaders, sump pumps or other direct connections" may feed it; and cleanouts must be capped at all times except during maintenance. One item is an installation you may not yet have: the owner is "responsible for the installation of a two (2) way cleanout" between the upper and lower lateral, in a position the Director approves and built to the City's Standard Details.
What else is worth knowing
Sources
Emeryville Municipal Code Title 7 chapter 8, Wastewater Collection SystemWhat the rules say
Some of these requirements are issued by East Bay Regional Private Sewer Lateral Program rather than by Emeryville.
Most relevant if you have a backup or blockage
No rule on file here is specific to a backup or blockage; that does not mean none exists.
Also in force here
- Who issues it:
- City of Emeryville
- What it covers:
- any repair, replacement or abandonment of a private lateral, and any verification test
The City of Emeryville states that "a permit is required for any repair, replacement, or abandonment, or for a verification test on a private sewer lateral", and opens its guidance with a safety warning: "before any work is performed on your sewer, please call PG&E ... to determine if a small-diameter gas pipeline crosses through your sewer lateral". A City Public Works Inspector "is required to come for all sewer lateral work" and "usually comes a total of five times for each project"; the EBMUD verification test "must be witnessed by a representative from EBMUD and the City PW Inspector" and "cannot be performed until after the City PW Inspector has completed the third call". The City adds that "in most cases, a private sewer lateral will not pass the verification test unless some repair or replacement is performed". Two things the Municipal Code adds are worth having before you apply. Clearing a blockage is outside all of this: section 7-8.202 provides that "no sewer lateral permit shall be required for the clearance of sewer stoppages in a building sewer lateral". And where a permit IS needed, it is the only one - issuing it "shall satisfy the requirements of Chapter 2 of Title 7 regarding excavations and encroachments in the public right-of-way", so there is no separate encroachment permit to apply for. The application has to be made in person by the owner's licensed contractor.
What to do: Ring PG&E on the number the City publishes before any work starts, and before any attempt to clear a blockage. Then plan for the sequence rather than a single visit: the City's inspector attends throughout, the EBMUD verification test cannot happen until that inspector's third call, and both agencies must witness it. Ask whether either exemption applies - EBMUD's for a lateral fully replaced within ten years on a signed final building permit, or the City's where it replaced the lower lateral itself during a rehabilitation project, which still leaves the upper lateral to be tested.
City of Emeryville, PermitsWhy this matters
The gas warning is the reason to read this before anything else. A gas line installed by directional drilling can be threaded straight through an existing sewer lateral, and the sewer keeps working until somebody sends a cutting tool down to clear a blockage. After that, two sentences decide the budget and the calendar: the City says the verification test usually fails without repair work, and it counts the inspections at five. The certificate is worth 7 years after a repair and 20 after a full replacement or lining - thirteen extra years for doing the whole job. One piece of good news sits in the code rather than the guidance: Emeryville folds the encroachment permit into this one, so opening the road needs no second permit and no second wait.
Where a permit is sought for new construction or for remodelling costing more than $100,000, a Compliance Certificate is required before the final permit or approval is obtained.
What to do: Check whether a current certificate or exemption already covers this property through the East Bay Regional Private Sewer Lateral Program before planning the permit timeline around an inspection.
Consolidated Regional Private Sewer Lateral Ordinance, effective 24 May 2019Why this matters
This is the highest threshold of the covered programmes - Berkeley's own ordinance, which this one does not cover, fires at $60,000, and three Marin districts at $50,000. It is also required later in the process than its neighbours demand: the certificate is needed before final approval rather than before the permit is issued. A certificate is valid twenty years after a complete replacement and seven years otherwise, and an exemption may be available where the lateral was fully replaced within the last ten years.
A Compliance Certificate is required to close escrow when a property is sold or transferred. A certificate is valid twenty years after a complete replacement and seven years otherwise.
What to do: Check whether a current certificate or exemption already covers this property through the East Bay Regional Private Sewer Lateral Program before arranging an inspection.
Consolidated Regional Private Sewer Lateral Ordinance, effective May 24, 2019Why this matters
An exemption may be available if the sewer lateral was fully replaced within the last ten years, or if an unexpired certificate from another agency already covers the property. Whether one already exists is not something an address lookup can answer - ask the programme, which holds the certificate records.
A 180-day extension is available when buying or selling: if a Compliance Certificate cannot be obtained before title transfers, a Time Extension Certificate allows 180 days for the work, and is valid only when returned with a $4,500 deposit at title transfer.
What to do: If the lateral cannot be certified before completion, ask the East Bay Regional Private Sewer Lateral Program about a Time Extension Certificate, and agree in writing which party will receive the $4,500 refund.
East Bay Regional Private Sewer Lateral ProgramWhy this matters
The certificate requirement reads as an absolute bar on closing escrow, and it is not one. The $4,500 is a deposit rather than a fee - the programme states it "will be released to the designated party when compliance is achieved" and is refunded if compliance is met within the 180 days - but it still has to be found at title transfer, and the Time Extension Certificate itself carries its own charge.
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
- Emeryville (municipality)
- Sewer service
- No map of sewer providers is held here. BelowGrid cannot say which sewer provider serves an individual address.
Where else this answer applies
The same authorities settle this in the places below too:
Each of them gets its answer from the same authorities.
How this compares to neighbouring cities
6 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, fitting included; your water line stops being yours at the meter.
Who owns the water service line in EmeryvilleNearby cities and further reading
Look up a specific address
This page describes what applies to properties in Emeryville in general. To see which authorities serve one address, and what records exist for it, search for it.
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