Who pays for the sewer lateral in Santa Monica, CA
Which part of the pipe is yours
Yours all the way to the main under the road
Why, and what to doNobody has put this in writing
What is known
If something’s wrong
If a repair needs a permit or an inspection
- Who issues it:
- City of Santa Monica, the Street Superintendent issuing and the Utilities Division making the connection
- What it covers:
- making, constructing, altering or repairing any house connection sewer or any portion of one, with clearing a stoppage exempt unless pipe is replaced or a street, sidewalk or sewer easement is excavated
Santa Monica requires a written permit from the Street Superintendent before anyone may "make, construct, alter or repair any house connection sewer ... or any portion of any such sewer or storm drain connection". The City's own page puts it simply: "a permit is required to construct, alter, or repair any house connection sewer". Clearing a blockage is exempt - "except when it is necessary to replace any part or all of such sewer connection or to excavate in any street or sidewalk or sewer easement in connection therewith". And the connection to the main is not your contractor's to make: your contractor "shall excavate to the sewer or storm drain at the point where the connection is to be made, and wastewater maintenance forces of the Utilities Division shall then cut the required hole in the sewer or storm drain and install the sewer saddle furnished by the City", for a separate tapping or saddling fee.
Who to call first about the sewer lateral
Santa Monica: official site(opens in a new tab)The documents this answer is built on
Who is responsible for which part
The owner keeps the pipe from the property to the main, and in Santa Monica the code's own term for it names the part in the road: a "house connection sewer" is the pipe "constructed in a street, alley, walk or other public place or in a sewer easement". The City puts it plainly on its permit page - owners are responsible "from their property to the City's sewer main in the City street or alley".
- The property owner
- The connection from the property to the main. The City states that "property owners are responsible for a sewer connection (lateral) from their property to the City's sewer main in the City street or alley", and section 7.04.640 provides that all house connection sewers "and appurtenances thereto, now existing or hereafter constructed, shall be maintained by the owner of the property served in a safe and sanitary condition". Note the code's definition of the term: a house connection sewer is the pipe "constructed in a street, alley, walk or other public place or in a sewer easement granted to the City and connecting ... any lot or part of a lot with any public sewer".
What else is worth knowing
Sources
City of Santa Monica, How to get a Sewer PermitWhat the rules say
Most relevant if you have a backup or blockage
No rule on file here is specific to a backup or blockage; that does not mean none exists.
Also in force here
- Who issues it:
- City of Santa Monica, the Street Superintendent issuing and the Utilities Division making the connection
- What it covers:
- making, constructing, altering or repairing any house connection sewer or any portion of one, with clearing a stoppage exempt unless pipe is replaced or a street, sidewalk or sewer easement is excavated
Santa Monica requires a written permit from the Street Superintendent before anyone may "make, construct, alter or repair any house connection sewer ... or any portion of any such sewer or storm drain connection". The City's own page puts it simply: "a permit is required to construct, alter, or repair any house connection sewer". Clearing a blockage is exempt - "except when it is necessary to replace any part or all of such sewer connection or to excavate in any street or sidewalk or sewer easement in connection therewith". And the connection to the main is not your contractor's to make: your contractor "shall excavate to the sewer or storm drain at the point where the connection is to be made, and wastewater maintenance forces of the Utilities Division shall then cut the required hole in the sewer or storm drain and install the sewer saddle furnished by the City", for a separate tapping or saddling fee.
What to do: Apply to the Street Superintendent before any work beyond clearing a blockage, and ask two questions when you do. Ask what the tapping or saddling fee is and how City crews are scheduled, so your contractor's trench is not open waiting for them. And if you are connecting to a sewer house connection the City built, ask what the City's records show it cost - section 7.04.590 makes that amount payable before the permit issues. Applications go to [email protected]. If your lateral serves two lots, raise it early: the code allows two lots on one connection but only one per connection during new construction or remodels.
City of Santa Monica, How to get a Sewer PermitWhy this matters
The tap is the surprise. In Santa Monica your contractor digs and then waits for City crews, who make the cut and supply the saddle, and who charge for it on top of the permit and inspection fees. A programme that assumes your plumber finishes the job in a day is wrong, and so is a quotation that prices the tap as their work. The permit exemption is the other trap: clearing a stoppage needs no permit until pipe has to be replaced or ground has to be opened in a street, sidewalk or sewer easement - and in Santa Monica the connection you are responsible for IS the length in the public place, so most real repairs land inside the exception rather than outside it.
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
- Santa Monica (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
2 of the 8 nearest cities draw the line somewhere else. Each authority publishes only its own rule.
Your other pipe: the water service line
The drinking water line coming into your property is a separate pipe, run by a separate authority, and who is responsible for it is decided separately. One of the two authorities does not say where its side ends, so the two answers cannot be compared here.
Who owns the water service line in Santa MonicaNearby cities and further reading
Look up a specific address
This page describes what applies to properties in Santa Monica in general. To see which authorities serve one address, and what records exist for it, search for it.
Search for an address