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Who pays for the sewer lateral in San Ramon, CA

Which part of the pipe is yours

  • Sewer lateral

    Yours all the way to the main under the road — depends on which district bills your sewer: Central San or Dublin San Ramon Services District

    Why, and what to do
your buildingproperty linesidewalkstreetmain
The thick length is yours. A dashed marker means the position depends on your property — see below.

If something’s wrong

If a repair needs a permit or an inspection

  • Before work on the pipe · Permit

    Who issues it:
    City of San Ramon City Engineer
    What it covers:
    any encroachment within on over or under a right-of-way in the city including excavating it or placing a pipeline under it

    San Ramon Municipal Code section C6-4 provides that no person, "without first obtaining a written permit", shall "Encroach or make any encroachment within, on, over, or under the limits of any right-of-way" or "Place on, over or under a right-of-way any pipeline, conduit or other fixture"; section C6-1 counts "Excavating, filling, or disturbing the right-of-way" as an encroachment. The permit is issued by the City Engineer. Both sanitary districts that collect San Ramon's sewage put the lateral under the street on the owner, so this is the City permit an owner needs to dig to it, whichever district serves the address.

The repair rule in full, with its sources

No rule on file here is specific to selling, buying, remodelling or adding a unit; that does not mean none exists.

Who to call first about the sewer lateral

BelowGrid has no first-call guidance on file from San Ramon about the sewer lateral.

San Ramon: official site(opens in a new tab)The documents this answer is built on

Who is responsible for which part

Two sanitary districts collect San Ramon's sewage, each in its own part of the city, and both put the lateral on the property owner all the way to the district's main, under the street included. Central Contra Costa Sanitary District serves "portions of Martinez and San Ramon", and Dublin San Ramon Services District provides "wastewater collection and treatment to Dublin and south San Ramon". The City's own code says nothing about who maintains a lateral.

The property owner
The whole lateral, on both districts' own texts. Central San's Code of Laws section 9.10.040 makes the owner responsible for "constructing, repairing and maintaining the entire side sewer between the building and the public sewer (including both the lateral and building sewers, and the tap, saddle or wye connection fitting at the public main sewer)". Dublin San Ramon Services District's code, section 5.10.080, provides that "The customer owns all sewer facilities from the point of connection to the District's sewer main to the customer's building facilities, whether the pipelines are located within private property or a public road right-of-way", and its page for householders says "The property owner is responsible for the service pipeline between the house and the sewer main, which is usually located in the center of the street."

What decides which applies

Which district serves the address decides whose permit and whose rules apply, and on the lateral the two agree except at one point. Central San puts the tap, saddle or wye where the lateral joins its main on the owner in terms. Dublin San Ramon Services District runs the owner's pipe to the point of connection to its main and does not say who has the fitting itself, so in the District's part of the city ask the District before paying for work on the connection. Dublin San Ramon Services District also says the line is "not at the property line or the curb, as many people assume". On the districts' own service-area maps Central San's collection area covers about 78% of the city's land and Dublin San Ramon Services District's sewer area about 21%; about 1% is on neither map, which is not necessarily unsewered. Homes on their own septic system with no sewer connection are outside this answer.

Sources

Central Contra Costa Sanitary District Code of Laws, Title 9, Sewers

Also quoted:

Checked

What the rules say

Most relevant if you are repairing or replacing the pipe

  • Before work on the pipePermit
    Who issues it:
    City of San Ramon City Engineer
    What it covers:
    any encroachment within on over or under a right-of-way in the city including excavating it or placing a pipeline under it

    San Ramon Municipal Code section C6-4 provides that no person, "without first obtaining a written permit", shall "Encroach or make any encroachment within, on, over, or under the limits of any right-of-way" or "Place on, over or under a right-of-way any pipeline, conduit or other fixture"; section C6-1 counts "Excavating, filling, or disturbing the right-of-way" as an encroachment. The permit is issued by the City Engineer. Both sanitary districts that collect San Ramon's sewage put the lateral under the street on the owner, so this is the City permit an owner needs to dig to it, whichever district serves the address.

    What to do: First confirm which district serves the address - Central San or Dublin San Ramon Services District - and get that district's sewer permit or consent. Then apply to the San Ramon City Engineer for an encroachment permit with the district's consent attached, and pay the deposit the engineer sets. If the street was resurfaced recently, ask the Public Works Director about a moratorium waiver before planning a trench. Tell the engineer before excavation starts and when the work is finished. If a blocked lateral cannot wait, call the engineer's office (or the police out of hours) before digging and apply within ten calendar days.

    Why this matters

    The City permit comes after the district's consent, not instead of it. Section C6-12 has the applicant attach "the written order or consent to any work under the permit, required by law, of the public utilities commission, sanitary districts, water districts, or any other public body having jurisdiction", and "A permit shall not be issued until the order or consent, if required, is first obtained and evidence of it filed with the city engineer." Central San states that "When sewer work will occur outside the building, whether it is on property or off property, a Central San sewer permit is required". Dublin San Ramon Services District's code keeps the connection itself in the District's hands: no person other than one it authorises may "connect or disconnect the customer's sewer service line". Under section C6-20 the City Engineer fixes a cash deposit to cover restoring the right-of-way, released ninety days after the work is satisfactorily completed, and section C6-28 lets the engineer require liability insurance naming the City. Section C6-38 prefers boring to trenching: small pipes "shall be jacked, bored or driven, or otherwise forced underneath a paved surface", and the paved surface is not cut unless the permit allows it. Chapter VII adds a moratorium: under section C6-205 permission to excavate in a public street is not granted for five years after it is resurfaced or rebuilt, three years after a slurry seal, or where the pavement rates 80 or above on the condition index, unless the Public Works Director grants a waiver or an exception such as an emergency. In an emergency section C6-6 lets maintenance of a pipe lawfully under a street start first, provided the City Engineer's office is notified - the police department when City offices are closed - and the permit is applied for within ten calendar days.

    In force since · Checked

    San Ramon Municipal Code Division C6, Public Works and Flood Control, Chapter I, Encroachments

    Also quoted:

What this page cannot tell you

  • No assistance or grant programme has been reviewed for this jurisdiction yet.

Who governs and serves this area

Jurisdiction
San Ramon (municipality)
Sewer service

How this compares to neighbouring cities

6 of the 8 nearest cities draw the line somewhere else. Each authority publishes only its own rule.

  • San Ramon(this page)
    the main (conditions apply)
  • Pleasantonabout 7 mi
    the main
  • Livermoreabout 11 mi
    the cleanout (conditions apply; see that page)
  • Haywardabout 13 mi
    the main, including the connection fitting on the main
  • San Leandroabout 13 mi
    the main
  • Concordabout 15 mi
    the cleanout (conditions apply; see that page)
  • Brentwoodabout 17 mi
    the property line (conditions apply; see that page)
  • Martinezabout 19 mi
    the main, including the connection fitting on the main (conditions apply; see that page)
  • Pittsburgabout 18 mi
    the property line

Distances are approximate, in a straight line between the places’ centres.

Compare the rules city by city

Nearby cities and further reading

Look up a specific address

This page describes what applies to properties in San Ramon in general. To see which authorities serve one address, and what records exist for it, search for it.

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