Sewer Lateral Inspections Required With Sale of Older CV Homes

CASTRO VALLEY, CA – During Castro Valley Sanitary District’s (CVSan’s) public hearing held at the Regular Board meeting on September 4th, the Board of Directors voted 5-0 to pass Ordinance No. 179, which establishes a Private Sewer Lateral Regulatory Inspection (PSL) Program. The Ordinance will go into effect on July 1, 2019.

The PSL Program will require all properties within CVSan’s boundaries to have a private sewer lateral compliance certificate when they are bought or sold. Properties that were built less than 30 years ago or have had at least 50% of their private sewer lateral replaced in the last ten years will automatically be issued compliance certificates. Properties that do not fall into these two categories will be required to have their private sewer laterals inspected by closed circuit television (CCTV) prior to the property’s sale.

Within CVSan’s boundaries, the homeowner is responsible for maintenance and repairs for the entire private sewer lateral up to and including the connection to the public sewer main, while CVSan is responsible for the public sewer main. However, during a property sale it is not uncommon for the buyer and seller to negotiate who will assume responsibility for the inspection and repair costs. The average cost for replacing an entire private sewer lateral is $4,000 –$5,000. The CCTV permit cost will be $230. CVSan modeled this program after industry standards that are already in place in cities such as Alameda, Berkeley, and Oakland.

The purpose of this Ordinance is to reduce the amount of rainwater received at the CVSan/Oro Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) during storms. Currently, damaged private sewer laterals connected to CVSan’s wastewater collection system allow rainwater to enter through cracks and faulty joints in the private sewer laterals. This causes more flow during rainy weather than the system was designed to handle and results in the WWTP unnecessarily treating this rainwater.

Visit www.cvsan.org/PSL for more information on the PSL Program.