Skip to main content
BelowGrid

Who pays for the sewer lateral in Temple City, CA

Which part of the pipe is yours

your buildingproperty linesidewalkstreetmain
The thick length is yours.

If something’s wrong

If a repair needs a permit or an inspection

  • Before work on the pipe · Permit

    Who issues it:
    the commissioner named in the adopted County highway permit ordinance; section 6-1A-2 makes the County road commissioner, or a person the City Council appoints, the City's superintendent of streets
    What it covers:
    any excavation or encroachment in any highway

    Temple City Municipal Code section 6-1A-0 adopts the Los Angeles County highway permit ordinance, as contained in County ordinances 3597 and 9879 "and including all amendments and supplements enacted and in effect on or before December 7, 1979", as the City's highway permit ordinance, which "provides for permits for the moving of buildings and the making of excavations in public streets". Inside it, section 16.06.010 provides that every person, with stated exceptions, "is required to obtain a permit from the commissioner before he" does any of a list of things, including when he "Makes or causes to be made any excavation or encroachment in any highway". 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.

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 Temple City about the sewer lateral.

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

Who is responsible for which part

Temple City writes no sewer ownership rule of its own and borrows the County's. Section 6-2A-0 of its municipal code adopts "the Los Angeles County code, title 20, utilities, division 2, sanitary sewers and industrial waste as amended" as the City's sanitary sewer and industrial waste ordinance; the City re-enacted that sentence in Ordinance 95-782, adopted on 3 October 1995. Inside the 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 within the street or right-of-way, 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

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 - and that silence is not the City taking it on. Section 6-2A-3 renames the parties in the borrowed text and rewrites the public sewer as "All sanitary sewers and appurtenances thereto, lying within streets or easements dedicated to the city, which are under the sole jurisdiction of the city", but it does not redefine a house lateral, so the County's assignment reaches the pipe as written. The owner's duty in section 20.24.080 was last amended in 1989 and the house lateral definition dates from 1964, so both were part of the County text when the City adopted it in 1995. Los Angeles County Public Works, whose sewer maintenance district lists Temple City among its cities, says the same of its whole district: "The private property owner is responsible for the entire length of the lateral, which includes that portion that may be located within the public right of way".

Sources

Temple City Municipal Code section 6-2A-0, Adoption of code

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:
    the commissioner named in the adopted County highway permit ordinance; section 6-1A-2 makes the County road commissioner, or a person the City Council appoints, the City's superintendent of streets
    What it covers:
    any excavation or encroachment in any highway

    Temple City Municipal Code section 6-1A-0 adopts the Los Angeles County highway permit ordinance, as contained in County ordinances 3597 and 9879 "and including all amendments and supplements enacted and in effect on or before December 7, 1979", as the City's highway permit ordinance, which "provides for permits for the moving of buildings and the making of excavations in public streets". Inside it, section 16.06.010 provides that every person, with stated exceptions, "is required to obtain a permit from the commissioner before he" does any of a list of things, including when he "Makes or causes to be made any excavation or encroachment in any highway". 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, ask the City of Temple City how to apply for the street excavation permit, what deposit will be set, and whether the plat can be waived for a lateral repair. If a blocked lateral is an emergency, the permit can follow on the next business day.

    Why this matters

    One provision in the adopted ordinance is written for exactly this job. Section 16.18.030 requires a plat with an excavation permit application, then adds: "When excavations are made for service connections or for the location of trouble in conduits, cable or pipe, or for making repairs thereto, the commissioner may waive the filing of a plat." Section 16.12.010 asks every applicant for "a cash deposit or other adequate security, as determined by the commissioner", and no figure is set; section 6-1A-3 has permit fees set by resolution. Before digging, section 16.06.140 has the permittee notify the owners of underground facilities nearby, or the one-call system, "at least 48 hours prior to time of proposed excavation, exclusive of weekends or legal holidays" - notice to the utilities, not to the City. In an emergency, section 16.18.130 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."

    In force since · Checked

    Temple City Municipal Code section 6-1A-0, Adoption of code

    Also quoted:

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
Temple City (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.

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 Temple City in general. To see which authorities serve one address, and what records exist for it, search for it.

Search for an address