What is a private sewer lateral?
A private sewer lateral (PSL) is the pipe that carries waste from your home or business to the sewer main, usually under the street. It has two parts: the upper lateral, from the building cleanout to the curbside cleanout, and the lower lateral, from the curbside cleanout to the sewer main.
Property owners are responsible for the whole lateral, except in Alameda and Albany, where owners are responsible for the upper lateral only.
Why the East Bay requires certificates
Many East Bay homes were built before 1950, and many still have their original clay sewer pipes. Over time these pipes crack, shift apart, or get broken by tree roots. Rain and groundwater then leak in and can overwhelm the treatment plants, sending partly treated wastewater into San Francisco Bay.
To protect the Bay, the U.S. EPA and the Regional Water Quality Control Board required EBMUD to adopt a Regional Private Sewer Lateral ordinance. Under it, owners must show their lateral is leak-free with an EBMUD compliance certificate.
When you need a certificate
- Selling or transferring the property
- Building or remodeling with permits valued over $100,000
- Changing the size of your water meter
How trenchless replacement works
Instead of digging a trench across your yard, we open small access points at each end of the line. A new, seamless pipe is pulled through the path of the old one, breaking the old pipe apart as it goes. The result is a leak-free lateral with far less digging, cleanup and landscaping repair.
Testing and your certificate
After the work, your lateral must pass an EBMUD verification test with an EBMUD inspector present. Once it passes, we deliver your compliance certificate within 72 hours. A certificate for a fully replaced lateral is valid for 20 years.