Who pays for the sewer lateral in Lakewood, CA
Which part of the pipe is yours
Yours all the way to the main under the road
Why, and what to do
If something’s wrong
If a repair needs a permit or an inspection
- Who issues it:
- City of Lakewood Superintendent of Streets, who stands in for the County road commissioner under section 7101
- What it covers:
- any excavation or encroachment in any highway
Lakewood Municipal Code section 7100 adopts the County of Los Angeles Highway Permit Ordinance, in its edition "effective October 26, 1981", as the City's own, "regulating street excavation and construction, highway encroachments and house moving, and requiring permits therefor, including the payment of fees". Inside it, section 16.06.010 provides that every person, with stated exceptions, "is required to obtain a permit from the commissioner before he" does any of a list of things, including when he "Makes or causes to be made any excavation or encroachment in any highway". Section 7101 makes the commissioner Lakewood's Superintendent of Streets. The City's sewer ordinance, borrowed from the County, puts the house lateral under the street on the owner, so this is the permit an owner needs to reach their own pipe.
Who to call first about the sewer lateral
Lakewood: official site(opens in a new tab)The documents this answer is built on
Who is responsible for which part
Lakewood writes no sewer ownership rule of its own and borrows the County's. Section 7201 of its municipal code adopts "Division 2 of Title 20 of the Los Angeles County Code pertaining to Sanitary Sewers and Industrial Waste, adopted July 27, 1990" as the City's sanitary sewer ordinance, regulating among other things "the design, construction, alteration, use and maintenance of public sewers and house laterals". Inside that adopted division, section 20.24.080 provides that all house laterals "shall be maintained by the owner of the property served in a safe and sanitary condition", and section 20.20.130 defines a "house lateral" as "that part of the sewer piping within the street or right-of-way which extends from the property or sewer right-of-way line to a construction with the main-line sewer". The length the City's ordinance puts on the owner is the length under the road, and the City's own page says the same thing in plain words.
- The property owner
- The run under the street by the adopted code, and the whole length from the house to the main by the City's own account. Section 20.24.080 assigns house laterals to "the owner of the property served", and section 20.20.130 places that lateral within the street or right-of-way, from the property line to the main-line sewer. Section 20.20.220 defines the main-line sewer independently - one "in which changes in alignment and grade occur only at manholes", adding that such sewers "are generally eight inches or more in diameter" - so the owner's length ends where that pipe begins. The City's sewer and water line page puts it the same way: "In Lakewood, homeowners are generally responsible for repairs to the sewer lateral from their home to the main sewer line."
What else is worth knowing
Sources
Lakewood Municipal Code section 7201, Adoption of Sanitary Sewer and Industrial Waste OrdinanceWhat is required
- Who issues it:
- City of Lakewood Superintendent of Streets, who stands in for the County road commissioner under section 7101
- What it covers:
- any excavation or encroachment in any highway
Lakewood Municipal Code section 7100 adopts the County of Los Angeles Highway Permit Ordinance, in its edition "effective October 26, 1981", as the City's own, "regulating street excavation and construction, highway encroachments and house moving, and requiring permits therefor, including the payment of fees". Inside it, section 16.06.010 provides that every person, with stated exceptions, "is required to obtain a permit from the commissioner before he" does any of a list of things, including when he "Makes or causes to be made any excavation or encroachment in any highway". Section 7101 makes the commissioner Lakewood's Superintendent of Streets. The City's sewer ordinance, borrowed from the County, puts the house lateral under the street on the owner, so this is the permit an owner needs to reach their own pipe.
What to do: Before digging in the street to reach a house lateral, apply to the City for a street excavation permit, ask what deposit the Superintendent of Streets will set, and ask whether the plat can be waived for a lateral repair. If a blocked lateral is an emergency, the permit can follow on the next business day.
Lakewood Municipal Code section 7100, Adoption of Los Angeles County Highway Permit OrdinanceWhy this matters
One provision in the adopted ordinance is written for exactly this job. Section 16.18.030 requires a plat with an excavation permit application, then adds: "When excavations are made for service connections or for the location of trouble in conduits, cable or pipe, or for making repairs thereto, the commissioner may waive the filing of a plat." Section 16.12.010 asks every applicant for "a cash deposit or other adequate security, as determined by the commissioner", large enough to cover the costs if the permit is not fulfilled, and no figure is set. Where an applicant is required to indemnify the City as a condition of the permit, Lakewood's own section 7150 provides that "the applicant may be required to file a certificate of insurance", with coverage "of not less than $500,000.00 for bodily injury and/or $100,000.00 for property damage liability". Before digging, section 16.06.140 has the permittee notify the owners of underground facilities nearby, or the one-call system, "at least 48 hours prior to time of proposed excavation, exclusive of weekends or legal holidays" - notice to the utilities, not to the City. In an emergency, section 16.18.130 allows an excavation needed "for the preservation of life or property if the person making such excavation applies for a permit not later than the next business day."
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
- Lakewood (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.
Nearby cities and further reading
Look up a specific address
This page describes what applies to properties in Lakewood in general. To see which authorities serve one address, and what records exist for it, search for it.
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