Who pays for the sewer lateral in Folsom, CA
Which part of the pipe is yours
Yours from the cleanout to your building — if certain conditions are met
Why, and what to do
Who is responsible for which part
Folsom splits the lateral in two and keeps the half nearest the main. Section 13.08.140 provides that "The property owner has the sole responsibility for clearing stoppages, inspecting, maintaining, and repairing the upper lateral, including backflow prevention devices", and that "If the city owns the mainline, the city is responsible for clearing stoppages and for inspecting, maintaining, and repairing the lower lateral, city cleanouts, manholes and mainline".
- Folsom
- The lower lateral - the length from the cleanout near the property line to the main, including the connection itself. Section 13.08.010 defines it as "the portion of the city-owned lateral located between the sanitary sewer system main, and either the property line, sewer cleanout, curb line, or other jurisdictional locations", and adds that "The lower lateral includes the connection to the sewer main".
- The property owner
- The upper lateral, from the cleanout to the building, and it has to be kept to a stated standard. Section 13.08.160 requires each owner, "at the property owner's expense", to "inspect, maintain in good working order, repair and replace, as necessary, the private sewer lateral", which must be "free of displaced joints, open joints, roots, cracks, leaks".
- What decides which applies
- The dividing line is a cleanout where there is one, and a measured distance where there is not: section 13.08.140 provides that the delineation "is at the city's sewer cleanout or, in the absence of a cleanout, it shall be understood that the delineation from the upper sewer lateral to the lower sewer lateral shall be a maximum of five feet from the property line or easement". The City's half also depends on who owns the main. Where the main is privately owned, "the city has no responsibility for clearing stoppages or for inspecting, maintaining, or repairing the mainline, cleanouts, or lower laterals" - so on a private street or in some developments the whole run is someone other than the City's, and not every address in Folsom is on a City-owned main. Find your cleanout, and ask the City whether it owns the main your lateral joins, before deciding whose a blockage is.
What is required
Folsom sets a standard for the private lateral and can order it inspected. Section 13.08.160(A) requires each owner to keep it "free of displaced joints, open joints, roots, cracks, leaks, inflow, infiltration of water, fats, oils and grease, debris and rags", and subsection (B) provides that "A property owner shall have the private sewer lateral inspected by a licensed plumber upon the receipt of written notice from the city that an inspection is required".
What to do: If a notice arrives, book a licensed plumber for a CCTV inspection within the time the notice sets, and make sure the report lists every defect and the corrective work with its cost, because that is what the City reviews. Before any repair, ask the City which permits the work needs. Check first whether the problem is on your side of the cleanout at all - below it, and where the City owns the main, the lower lateral is the City's.
Folsom Municipal Code section 13.08.160, Private sewer lateralsWhy this matters
The inspection is not a formality and not the owner's choice of method. Subsection (C) requires that it "shall include, at a minimum, a closed-circuit television (CCTV) inspection of the private sewer lateral", done and reported by a licensed plumber, and the report has to set out "All corrective actions that must be taken to maintain, repair or replace the private sewer lateral and the estimated time and cost". The City can issue the notice whenever it concludes from its own work on the public sewer, "or through any other means", that the lateral might cause a blockage - so it can arrive without anything having gone wrong on your side you knew about. And "The property owner shall be responsible for obtaining any required city permits prior to any construction."
Who governs and serves this area
- Jurisdiction
- Folsom (municipality)
- Sewer service
- Not mapped. No sewer service territory covering this area has been added, so BelowGrid cannot say who serves an individual address here.
What BelowGrid cannot say yet
- 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.
How this compares to neighbouring cities
1 of the 4 nearest cities draw the line somewhere else. No single authority publishes that comparison, because each knows only about itself.
Look up a specific address
A jurisdiction page describes what applies to properties in general. To see which authorities serve one address and what records exist for it, search for it.
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