City to shift sewer line responsibility

By: BARBARA HENRY - Staff Writer | Monday, July 23, 2007 11:56 PM PDT ∞

CARLSBAD -- If there's break in the pipe that links a home to the city's main sewer system, the property owner may now have to foot the bill.

The proposal, which aims to limit the city's financial liability for some sewage spills, will go before the City Council at tonight's 6 p.m. meeting at City Hall.

"What we're doing is clarifying what exactly our policy is," said city Communications Director Denise Vedder. "We didn't really have it written down."

In the past, if a small sewer connector line or "laterals" broke, the Carlsbad Municipal Water District might pay the repair bill. It depended on whether the property owner sought the city's assistance to solve the problem, Vedder said.

"If they called the city, we would come out and take a look, and in many cases we would take care of it," she said.

The city's water district, which mostly handles sewage issues for the northern end of town, typically received six to eight calls a year from property owners seeking assistance, she said.

Now, the city wants no part of those repair jobs. That's because new, stricter state regulations regarding sewer spills have the city scrambling to limit its liability issues, Vedder said. Among those new requirements are that cities take "reasonable steps" to prevent sewage spills, including video inspection and regular cleaning of all of its lines, a city staff report notes.

If the city declares that the laterals are the private property owner's responsibility, then the city doesn't have to regularly inspect them or conduct cleaning operations, the staff report notes.

Maintenance is a concern for the city because about half of the 22,166 sewer lateral lines in the city don't have "cleanouts" --- easy access points where crews can get equipment into the pipe. It would cost about $2,000 each to install those access spots, the city staff report states.

Carlsbad's situation is unusual; most cities already require residents to foot the bill for sewer line linkup breaks, Vedder said. Representatives for the two sewer districts that cover parts of southern Carlsbad agreed.

Leucadia Wastewater District put the responsibility on property owners back in the late 1980s, district General Manager Paul Bushee said. The district has about 10,000 customers in southern Carlsbad.

Meanwhile, property owners within the Vallecitos Water District, which covers the northeastern corner of La Costa among other areas in North County, have had to foot the bill for lateral line repairs for at least 30 years, district Assistant Manager Dale Mason said.

Bushee, Mason and Vedder all said breaks in sewer lateral lines are somewhat unusual regionally because pipes in Southern California tend to be newer. However, all three said it has happened to them.

"We actually moved out for eight weeks" after a line break caused sewage to back up inside his home, Bushee said, adding that he now tells people to hire inspectors once every two years or so to look at their lines.

"Ours wasn't that traumatic, we just didn't have a toilet for a couple days," said Vedder, who added that they didn't have a cleanout access point and had to have one installed as part of the repair work.

Mason said right after he sold his former home, he had a sewage line break problem and had to pay part of the repair bill.

-- Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 901-4072 or bhenry@nctimes.com.

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