Who pays for the sewer lateral in Milpitas, CA

Who is responsible for which part

The user owns and maintains the house sewer - the portion of the pipe on private property, up to a cleanout at the property line. The run under the street is the City's, which the code requires it to hold full title to before it will provide service through it.

Milpitas

The run in the public street, by title. The City provides that it "will not provide sewer service by means of any trunk sewer, main sewer or house lateral to which it does not have full and complete title at the time of rendering such service", and its code defines a "house lateral" as "that portion of the Side Sewer within a public street". Note what the maintenance article does and does not say: it gives the City "trunk sewers and main sewers ... when located in City streets or easements" and never names the house lateral, so the street portion is stated to be the City's property without the code stating in terms who repairs it. An owner facing a failure in the street should put that to Public Works rather than assume either answer.

The property owner

Everything on private property, and no further. The City states that "the user owns the entire house sewer and shall be responsible for maintaining, repairing, replacing, and clearing all stoppages and maintaining flow in the house sewer", including "clearing stoppages in the entire length of the house sewer" and keeping it "free from roots, grease deposits, and other solids". A "house sewer" is defined as "that portion of the Side Sewer within private property", the side sewer being "the total length of sewer from the Main Sewer to the foundation of the structure". The seam is marked on the ground: the user "shall have a street cleanout located at the property line, between the house sewer and the house lateral". A separate provision makes an approved sewage backflow protective device the owner's "at his sole cost and expense" where the lowest floor sits less than a foot above the nearest upstream manhole or relief structure.

Checked 2026-09-11

What is required

• When you askWork required

  Milpitas Sanitary Code 4.04 requires that where "the elevation of the lowest floor containing gravity waste drainage plumbing of any structure connected ... is less than one foot (1′) above the surface elevation of the nearest upstream public sewer structure capable of overflow and relief of pressure", the owner must install and keep "in operable condition at all times ... a sewage backflow protection device" at their own cost. The code adds that "it shall be unlawful for the owner to maintain any building sewer connection to the City's sewerage system without an approved sewage backflow protective device". Separately, construction of a house lateral needs a City permit, which "must be approved and countersigned before work is commenced".

  What to do: The test is your lowest floor with gravity drainage against the nearest upstream manhole, pressure relief, flushing inlet or rodding inlet - one foot. No address lookup settles which side of that you fall on - it takes a levels check. Ask the City's Building Inspection Department, which the code puts in charge of supervising and inspecting these installations.

  Why this matters▸▾

  This is an unusual requirement: it turns on how high your floor sits rather than on anything you do. It is also continuous: not "install one when you build" but maintain one in operable condition at all times, with the breach framed as unlawful. What it guards against is in the code's own words - "the danger of damage to health and property resulting from the possibility of sewage overflow and back-flooding". On a low-lying property without a working device, the main backs up into the building instead of out of a manhole in the street.

  In force since 1981-03-17 · Checked 2026-09-20

  Milpitas Municipal Code Title VIII chapter 2 article IV, Side Sewers

Who governs and serves this area

Jurisdiction

Milpitas (municipality)

Sewer service

• Union Sanitary District
• Which provider serves a particular address depends on where it is. Look up an address to resolve it.