Who pays for the sewer lateral in Pico Rivera, 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 Pico Rivera city engineer
- What it covers:
- making any excavation or encroachment in any street, which the code measures across the entire width of the right-of-way
Pico Rivera Municipal Code section 12.04.020 provides that every person, with stated exceptions, "is required to obtain a permit from the city engineer before he" does any of a list of things, including when he "Makes or causes to be made any excavation or encroachment in any street". 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
Pico Rivera: official site(opens in a new tab)The documents this answer is built on
Who is responsible for which part
Pico Rivera writes no sewer ownership rule of its own and borrows the County's. Section 13.28.010 of its municipal code adopts as the City's sanitary sewer ordinance "Los Angeles County Code, Title 20, Utilities, Division 2, Sanitary Sewers and Industrial Waste (Los Angeles County Ordinance 89-0101 adopted July 27, 1989)". 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", adding that such sewers "are generally eight inches or more in diameter" - so the owner's length ends where that pipe begins.
What else is worth knowing
Sources
Pico Rivera Municipal Code section 13.28.010, Sanitary Sewers and Industrial Waste Ordinance adopted by referenceWhat the rules say
Most relevant if you are repairing or replacing the pipe
- Who issues it:
- City of Pico Rivera city engineer
- What it covers:
- making any excavation or encroachment in any street, which the code measures across the entire width of the right-of-way
Pico Rivera Municipal Code section 12.04.020 provides that every person, with stated exceptions, "is required to obtain a permit from the city engineer before he" does any of a list of things, including when he "Makes or causes to be made any excavation or encroachment in any street". 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 Pico Rivera city engineer for an excavation permit, ask what deposit the restoration estimate will set, and ask whether the plat can be waived for a lateral repair.
Pico Rivera Municipal Code chapter 12.04, General Provisions and DefinitionsWhy this matters
Section 12.04.240 counts as street "all or any part of the entire width of right-of-way", so the whole run from the property line to the main is inside it. Section 12.12.210 requires, on top of the issuance fee, a deposit of "twice the estimated cost of restoring the pavement and base which may be damaged or destroyed by the proposed excavation or obstruction", and section 12.12.190 makes the permittee liable for the city engineer's costs, inspection and street restoration among them. One provision is written for this kind of job: under section 12.20.030 the city engineer may waive the plat "When excavations are made for service connections or for the location of trouble in conduits, cable or pipe, or for making repairs thereto". In an emergency, section 12.20.160 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
- Pico Rivera (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
1 of the 8 nearest cities draws 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 Pico Rivera in general. To see which authorities serve one address, and what records exist for it, search for it.
Search for an address