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Who pays for the sewer lateral in Everett, WA

Which part of the pipe is yours

  • Sewer lateral

    Yours from your property line to your building

    Why, and what to do
  • Water service line

    Yours from the meter to your building — if certain conditions are met

    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 Everett - a sewer permit
    What it covers:
    connecting to, opening or penetrating the City sewer system or a private sewer connected to it, and laying, altering, extending or repairing any sewer, public or private, that connects to it

    Everett Municipal Code section 14.08.060 provides that no person shall "lay, alter, extend or repair any sewer, public or private, which connects to the Everett municipal sewer system without first obtaining a permit from the city to do so."

The repair rule in full, with its sources

Buying or selling?

No rule on file here is specific to selling or buying; that does not mean none exists.

Who to call first about the sewer lateral

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

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

Who is responsible for which part

Everett owns and maintains the side sewer connection inside the public right-of-way, and the property owner repairs and maintains the side sewer from the building to the right-of-way. Section 14.08.260(A) of the Everett Municipal Code provides that "The city sewer department shall subsequent to approved installation, own, maintain and operate side sewer connections within the boundaries of the public right-of-way."

Everett
The side sewer connection within the public right-of-way, after an approved installation. The same section adds that the sewer department "shall not be responsible for maintenance and operation of side sewers outside the public right-of-way."
The property owner
The side sewer from the building to the right-of-way. Section 14.08.270 provides that "It shall be the duty of each abutting property owner to repair and maintain the side sewer line serving the abutting property owner's property between the premises served and the right-of-way."

What else is worth knowing

The dividing line is the edge of the public right-of-way. When a side sewer is blocked, section 14.08.260(B) makes it the customer's responsibility, at the customer's expense, to find out with rodding equipment or another approved method whether the blockage is on the premises or in the right-of-way; if the customer believes it is in the right-of-way, the City's sewer department investigates, and if the stoppage is due to a broken side sewer in the City right-of-way the City pays or reimburses the last contractor's bill for that work. Section 14.04.180 allows the City to contract with sewer districts to serve Everett residents; if a district bills you for sewer, its own rules apply, so check the name on your sewer bill.

Sources

Everett Municipal Code section 14.08.260

Also quoted:

Checked

What the rules say

Most relevant if you are remodelling or adding a unit

  • Before work on the pipePermit
    Who issues it:
    City of Everett - a sewer permit
    What it covers:
    connecting to, opening or penetrating the City sewer system or a private sewer connected to it, and laying, altering, extending or repairing any sewer, public or private, that connects to it

    Everett Municipal Code section 14.08.060 provides that no person shall "lay, alter, extend or repair any sewer, public or private, which connects to the Everett municipal sewer system without first obtaining a permit from the city to do so."

    What to do: Before repairing or replacing a side sewer, get a sewer permit from the City of Everett.

    Why this matters

    The owner repairs and maintains the side sewer between the building and the right-of-way, and that work needs a City permit. Where new construction or remodeling also needs a building permit, the sewer permit and its fees and connection charges come first. Side sewers may not be installed or extended in streets or alleys by customers without the sewer department's prior approval and a permit from the city engineer's office.

    Current wording dates from · Checked

    Everett Municipal Code section 14.08.060, Permit required (Ord. 1506-88, 1988)

    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
Everett (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 4 nearest cities draw the line somewhere else. Each authority publishes only its own rule.

  • Everett(this page)
    the property line
  • Monroeabout 12 mi
    the main
  • Lynnwoodabout 11 mi
    the property line (conditions apply; see that page)
  • Shorelineabout 16 mi
    the property line (conditions apply; see that page)
  • Arlingtonabout 14 mi
    the main

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

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. Your sewer lateral is yours to the property line; your water line stops being yours at the meter.

Who owns the water service line in Everett

Nearby cities and further reading

Look up a specific address

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

Search for an address