Who pays for the sewer lateral in Norwalk, CA
Which part of the pipe is yours
Yours all the way to the main under the road
Why, and what to do
Who is responsible for which part
Norwalk writes no sewer ownership rule of its own. Section 13.12.010 of its municipal code adopts "Division 2, Sanitary Sewers and Industrial Waste, of Title 20 of the Los Angeles County Code, as adopted, amended and in effect on May 24, 1990" as the City's ordinance, and section 13.12.020 renames the parties in it - "Chief Engineer" or "County Engineer" means the City Engineer, "County" or "County of Los Angeles" means the City of Norwalk. 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.
- The property owner
- The run under the street, named as such. Section 20.24.080 assigns house laterals to "the owner of the property served", and section 20.20.130 places that lateral in the street, 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", generally "eight inches or more in diameter" - so the owner's length ends where that pipe begins.
- What else is worth knowing
- The division assigns the half most owners assume is public and says nothing about the half they assume is theirs. A house lateral begins at the property line, so the run from the building out to that line is not what section 20.24.080 is about; the silence is not the City taking it on. What is worth knowing here, and is unusual, is that Norwalk keeps the money rather than passing it to the county. Section 13.12.050 amends the adopted division so that "all monies collected under this Section for sewer maintenance are to be submitted directly to the City for inclusion in the City's sewer maintenance funds" - the exact inverse of the neighbouring cities that send it to the County Sewer Maintenance District, and the City's own statement, in its own code, that it runs this system.
What is required
Norwalk Municipal Code section 12.12.030 provides that "no person shall dig up, break, excavate, tunnel, undermine, or in any manner break up any street or public place or make or cause to be made any excavation in or under the surface of any public place for any purpose ... unless such person shall first have obtained an excavation permit from the City Engineer". The City's own sewer ordinance puts the lateral under that road on the owner, so this is the permit that governs reaching it. A second one covers the pipe itself: section 15.32.050 requires anyone who intends to "construct, enlarge, alter, repair, improve, move, demolish ... or install or replace any electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system" to apply to the Building Official and obtain a permit first.
What to do: Ask the City Engineer about the excavation permit and the Building Official about the plumbing permit - they are separate applications and neither counter issues the other. Ask what bond or cash deposit will be set before accepting a quotation, and ask whether the street outside falls under the new-improvement restriction in section 12.12.340, because that decides whether the work can happen now at all. If the failure is an emergency, the work can start and the application follow on the next business day.
Norwalk Municipal Code chapter 12.12Why this matters
Two permits from two offices, and the second one is the reason to read this before hiring anybody. Norwalk has deleted the plumbing code's own permit chapter and written its own in its place, so section 15.32.050 is the operative requirement rather than the state code a contractor might expect - and it reaches repairing and replacing, not only installing. There is also relief for the case that actually happens: section 15.32.050 allows emergency work to proceed with the application filed on the next business day, so a lateral failing on a Saturday does not wait for a counter to open. The excavation permit carries the money. Section 12.12.080 allows a surety bond and section 12.12.090 cash deposits, and section 12.12.340 restricts work in a street that has recently been improved.
Who governs and serves this area
- Jurisdiction
- Norwalk (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
2 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.
Search for an address