Who pays for the sewer lateral in Pomona, CA

Who is responsible for which part

The pipe is yours to the main, fitting included: the code makes the owner "responsible for maintaining the house connections up to and including the connection to the sewer line". Pomona is unusual in leaving one door open. Its Risk Management page says the City "should only be responsible for private sewer lateral damages, in the rare occurrence when the City has determined that tree roots from a City tree have misaligned or broken the sewer lateral. In all other cases, the City is not responsible." Note whose determination it is, and note the word rare.

The property owner

The house connection, out to and including the joint at the City's sewer. Section 62-399(g) provides that "the property owner shall also be responsible for maintaining the house connections up to and including the connection to the sewer line", and the City repeats it on its own Tree Roots page: "the maintenance of private sewers is the responsibility of private property owners".

What else is worth knowing

Nothing splits the pipe, but Pomona publishes something most authorities do not - a narrow route by which a repair can become the City's bill. Its Risk Management page states that "responsibility for damage to the sewer lateral caused by City trees depends on why the roots entered the sewer lateral", explains that "a broken or misaligned sewer line allows roots to intrude" and that "roots typically do not break sewer lateral lines", and concludes that the City "should only be responsible for private sewer lateral damages, in the rare occurrence when the City has determined that tree roots from a City tree have misaligned or broken the sewer lateral. In all other cases, the City is not responsible." Three things a reader should carry into that. The order is the argument: the general rule comes first and the exception second. The City describes the exception as rare and is itself the one that determines whether it applies. And the page lists what it treats as not its fault - "earth movement, normal expansion, and contraction of the soil, defective construction, improper maintenance, and private property tree roots". So it is a real route and a narrow one, which is worth knowing in both directions before deciding whether to pursue it.

Checked 2026-09-15

What is required

• Any timeClaim possible

  The lateral is yours to the main under City Code section 62-399(g), but Pomona publishes one narrow way a repair can become the City's cost. Its Risk Management page says the City "should only be responsible for private sewer lateral damages, in the rare occurrence when the City has determined that tree roots from a City tree have misaligned or broken the sewer lateral. In all other cases, the City is not responsible." The page starts from the opposite presumption - "a broken or misaligned sewer line allows roots to intrude into the sewer lateral" and "roots typically do not break sewer lateral lines" - and lists earth movement, soil expansion, "defective construction, improper maintenance, and private property tree roots" as causes it does not answer for.

  What to do: If a City street tree stands over or near your lateral, decide before the digging starts, not after. Ask your plumber to photograph the pipe in the trench and to note whether the break or misalignment came first and the roots after - that is the question the City says it decides on - and keep the camera work and the invoice together. Then contact Pomona's Risk Management division, which is the department that publishes this position, and ask what it needs and by when. Go in knowing the City calls this outcome rare; the evidence costs you ten minutes at the trench either way.

  Why this matters▸▾

  Roots are not a side issue here: the City says "about 50% of all sewer backups and overflows in the City are caused by tree roots". So the odds that this paragraph is about your blockage are real. What is narrow is the exception, and three things in the City's own wording say how narrow. The general rule is stated first and the exception second. The exception is described as rare. And it is the City that determines whether it applies. The practical consequence is about timing rather than odds. Whether a City tree misaligned or broke the pipe, or whether the pipe failed first and roots followed, is visible while the trench is open and invisible afterwards. Most people find this page after the repair is paid for, when the only evidence left is a filled-in hole.

  In force since 2026-09-15 · Checked 2026-09-15

  City of Pomona, Risk Management

Who governs and serves this area

Jurisdiction

Pomona (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.