Lateral responsibility

Definition

Where the customer's sewer pipe stops being theirs and starts being the city's.

Why It Matters

The drain and sewer share is the revenue and this decides whether its biggest ticket exists at all. Lateral replacement is the largest job in that line, and who pays for it is set by a municipal ordinance the seller has never read to you. Portland's version is worth knowing because of how strange the line is. The city maintains a lateral from the main to the street-side curb face nearest the property, so on a paved street with curbs it eats the street crossing. Where the main happens to sit between the property line and that curb, the city maintains only the wye or tee, and the owner has the rest. So one block and the next block are different businesses. A privately built system is the owner's wherever it lies, including inside the public right of way, and work there needs a permit the city may simply refuse. Get the ticket mix split by jurisdiction and read the ordinance for the two or three cities that produce the big tickets.