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Who pays for the sewer lateral in Hawthorne, CA

Which part of the pipe is yours

  • Sewer lateral

    Yours all the way to the main, including the fitting where it joins

    Why, and what to do
your buildingproperty linesidewalkstreetmain
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 Hawthorne city engineer, who is the director of public works or a designated representative
    What it covers:
    any activity or work area that occupies or impacts the public right-of-way, which is where the lateral meets the main

    Hawthorne Municipal Code section 12.16.020 provides that "No person shall make any encroachment in any public place without first obtaining a permit to do so from the city engineer", and section 12.16.010 defines an encroachment as "any activity or work area that occupies or impacts a portion of the public right-of-way". The City's sewer code puts the lateral on the owner up to and including its junction with the main under the street, so this is the permit an owner needs to reach that part of their own pipe. Section 12.16.050 exempts services and laterals from the plan approval required for new installations in the street.

The repair rule in full, with its sources

No rule on file here is specific to selling, buying, remodelling or adding a unit; that does not mean none exists.

Who to call first about the sewer lateral

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

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

Who is responsible for which part

Hawthorne puts the whole lateral and its junction with the main on the owner. Section 13.56.030 provides that "All sewer laterals shall be maintained by the owner of the property served by such lateral in a safe and sanitary operating condition so that there is no seepage of waste at any point up to and including the junction of the sewer lateral and the sewer main".

The property owner
The lateral from the building to the main, the junction included. The same section defines the sewer lateral as the connecting line running from the sewer main wye connection "to the private property line and extending to the structure to which it connects", and says the sewer main "shall not include sewer laterals".

What else is worth knowing

Nothing conditions the split, and the owner's duty is framed as a standard rather than only a pipe: the lateral must be kept so that "passage of waste through the lateral to the sewer main is free from stoppage and obstruction", which makes a blockage anywhere along it - under the street included - the owner's to clear. The section also makes an overflow the owner's: a spill from a private sewer lateral blockage, or from grease that blocks the main, "is the responsibility of the owner of the private sewer lateral which caused the SSO", who is liable for the City's response costs and any regulatory fines. Section 13.52.080, a definition written for the 1971 sewage and waste disposal article on connection permits, fees and capacity, describes the public sewer as the main line public sanitary sewer "including any sewer or sanitary pipeline or portion thereof"; it assigns no maintenance, and section 13.56.030 excludes laterals from the main in terms.

Sources

Hawthorne Municipal Code section 13.56.030, Maintenance of sewer laterals

Also quoted:

Checked

What the rules say

Most relevant if you are repairing or replacing the pipe

  • Before work on the pipePermit
    Who issues it:
    City of Hawthorne city engineer, who is the director of public works or a designated representative
    What it covers:
    any activity or work area that occupies or impacts the public right-of-way, which is where the lateral meets the main

    Hawthorne Municipal Code section 12.16.020 provides that "No person shall make any encroachment in any public place without first obtaining a permit to do so from the city engineer", and section 12.16.010 defines an encroachment as "any activity or work area that occupies or impacts a portion of the public right-of-way". The City's sewer code puts the lateral on the owner up to and including its junction with the main under the street, so this is the permit an owner needs to reach that part of their own pipe. Section 12.16.050 exempts services and laterals from the plan approval required for new installations in the street.

    What to do: Before digging in the street to reach a sewer lateral, apply to the Hawthorne city engineer for an encroachment permit, and ask at the same time whether the restoration bond can be waived for the job. Line up the insurance certificates before the work starts, and keep the permit records for five years - the permittee answers for the trench and the patch for that long. If the lateral fails and the work cannot wait, apply on the first working day after the excavation begins.

    Why this matters

    The bond is the large number. Section 12.16.060 requires "a restoration bond in the amount of five thousand dollars per location or per one hundred lineal feet, up to one hundred thousand dollars", although the city engineer may relieve permittees constructing minor improvements in the right-of-way of it. The obligations outlast the job: under section 12.16.220 "The permittee shall be responsible for any settlement of the trench for a period of one year following completion of the work", and section 12.16.374 has the permittee warrant the backfill and pavement restoration "for a period of five years after the date of installation of the facilities". Section 12.16.360 asks for general liability insurance of at least one million dollars per occurrence, with pollution coverage of one million dollars for excavations in the street. In an emergency the dig may start first, "provided that the person making such excavation shall apply to the city engineer for such a permit on the first working day after such work is commenced". The permit fee is set by council resolution.

    Current wording dates from · Checked

    Hawthorne Municipal Code section 12.16.020, Encroachment permit

    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
Hawthorne (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

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

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 Hawthorne in general. To see which authorities serve one address, and what records exist for it, search for it.

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