Plumber in Long Beach, CA

Long Beach Sewer Laterals

Who Is Responsible for a Sewer Lateral in Long Beach?

It is split at the property line. Long Beach Utilities’ rules call the stretch from the building to the property line the building sewer, and they make the property owner responsible for keeping sewage flowing through it, including investigating and repairing the line. The stretch from the property line to the main, under the sidewalk and the street, is the house connection. There the rules put the responsibility on the utility, repairs to the house connection included, and they give the utility sole discretion over how that repair is carried out. Routine maintenance is a separate matter. The utility’s sewer page says the owner is responsible for the routine maintenance of both sections, and it describes the street section as a responsibility shared between the owner and the city. So clearing a blockage anywhere in the lateral starts with the owner, and a broken pipe beyond the property line is the utility’s to fix.

The mains belong to the city. The utility’s 2025 sewer plan counts 705 miles of gravity sewer main, 7.9 miles of force main, more than 16,000 manholes and about 87,400 service connections, two-thirds of them single-family homes. Crews clean every main on a two-year rotation and return to known trouble segments every 60, 90, 120 or 180 days. Treatment is not the city’s job: the utility delivers more than 40 million gallons of wastewater a day to the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County. The city’s water department took over the sewers in 1988. Since January 2023 the same department, under the name Long Beach Utilities, has run water, sewer and gas together.

Before a Sewer Line Is Cleared in Long Beach: the Cross Bore Check

Long Beach Utilities asks for this check by name, and here the sewers and the gas lines belong to the same city department. A cross bore, as the utility defines it, is a natural gas pipeline that passes through a small segment of sewer pipe. It can happen when gas pipe is installed by trenchless methods. The utility calls these situations rare, says one can be the reason a lateral backs up, and warns that clearing such a line with a root cutter could cause a gas leak. Its guidance is the same for a homeowner and for a licensed plumber:

• Locate first. Call 811 during business hours to have utility lines marked. A utility inspector is also available 24 hours a day to locate gas lines, at (562) 570-2140.
• Use the outside cleanout wherever the property has one.
• Camera, not cutter. The utility does not recommend a cutting tool. It recommends an in-line camera to identify what is causing the blockage.
• Orange or yellow pipe means stop. Gas lines are typically made of plastic in those colors. The utility asks for an immediate call to (562) 570-2140, and says it can quickly confirm whether it is safe for the plumber to go on.
• If a cutter was used, check the blades for yellow or orange plastic when it comes out. Bubbles rising in a toilet bowl, a hissing or roaring sound at the cleanout, or the smell of gas there are signs of a leak. Get away from the smell and call 911.

The utility also inspects laterals for cross bores itself and sends a notice beforehand. It says a notice does not mean a gas line has been found in your sewer.

When the Trouble Is Past the Property Line

The utility will look at its section, in a set order. Its rules say it will not investigate a house connection until the owner has had the lateral inspected, cleared and drained, and that it will not investigate at all unless there is an adequate and accessible cleanout of four inches or larger. It recommends a cleanout at ground level, off the structure, on the downstream side of the building. It strongly encourages owners to supply a video of the lateral made by a plumber. If the video shows a problem on city property, it goes to the Manager of Sewer Operations at 1800 East Wardlow Road, and (562) 570-2440 is the number for questions. When the utility finds that its section needs a repair, it says the owner has access to its 24-hour stand-by crew to keep the lateral working until the repair crew has finished. The complimentary camera look we give a main line after clearing it is not a recording. If the utility is going to want video, say so when you call, so that a full sewer camera inspection is what gets scheduled.

Permits, and Who May Work in the Street

• On your property. Both the utility’s rules and the municipal code require a city permit before a building sewer is built or altered. Plumbing permits are issued at the Permit Center in City Hall.
• In the street. The municipal code says no permit shall be issued to construct or alter any sewer within a public street unless the applicant holds a valid sewer contractor’s license. The exception it makes for private work is a permit holder who connects a building sewer to the house connection on private property or at the property line.
• Digging in the right-of-way. Excavation permits come from the Public Works counter at City Hall, (562) 570-6784, and Long Beach Utilities has to approve the work before one is issued. The utility says to allow about three to four weeks for a sewer permit.
• New and reused connections. New construction and the redevelopment of an existing lot call for a new wye and a new lateral built to the utility’s standards. Reconnecting to an existing lateral is allowed in cases such as a tenant improvement, after a video inspection supervised by a utility inspector.
• Inspection. A utility inspector is present for the whole of the construction and signs off on the permit once the work meets the utility’s standards.

We clear laterals all the way to the city main and repair the line on your property. From the property line out to the main, the house connection is Long Beach Utilities’ to repair, and the municipal code limits permits for sewer work in a public street to holders of a sewer contractor’s license.

If a Sewer Backs Up in Long Beach

• Know the number. Sewer emergencies and overflows go to the utility’s dispatch line, (562) 570-2390, which also answers after hours. The same line takes reports of sewer odor in the neighborhood, a noisy manhole, or insects coming out of one.
• The first step is the owner’s. For a backup at a single property, the utility’s instruction is an initial inspection to rule out a cross bore, then clearing and draining the lateral by snake or hydro jet, ideally by a professional.
• No cleanout? A blocked main line is opened at the outside cleanout. Where a house has none we go in through a toilet or the roof vent, and we can install a cleanout once the line is running. A four-inch cleanout is also what the utility requires before it will run its own video inspection.
• Low fixtures. Where a plumbing fixture sits low enough that the main could back up into it, the municipal code requires a backwater valve on the drain serving that fixture, readily accessible and kept in working order by the owner.
• Smoke testing. In July 2025 the utility began smoke testing its sewers to find leaks and improper connections. It asks residents who receive a notice to pour about three cups of water into each drain on the day of the test. Smoke inside a building can point to a dry or missing trap, and smoke rising from a yard to a broken pipe or a missing cleanout cap. The utility says it is not issuing fines, and it encourages owners to have a licensed plumber correct what a test turns up.
• Buying in Long Beach? The building sewer comes with the property. A buyer’s sewer camera inspection from us includes the video and a written summary.

Long Beach Utilities

Who Supplies Water and Gas in Long Beach?

One city department supplies both, and runs the sewers besides. Long Beach voters established a municipal water department in 1911, and in 1931 it became a founding member of the Metropolitan Water District. Voters approved a city gas department in 1923, and it began operating the following May. In November 2022 they approved a charter change that put water, gas and sewer in a single department, which has gone by the name Long Beach Utilities since January 2023. So Long Beach has no separate gas company to call, and the emergency numbers are the city’s own: (562) 570-2140 for gas, and (562) 570-2390 for water and sewer.

In 2025, according to the utility’s water quality report, 71 percent of the city’s drinking water was local groundwater and the remaining 29 percent was imported water purchased from the Metropolitan Water District. The groundwater is pumped from wells around the city, about 30 of them active, and treated at the utility’s Groundwater Treatment Plant, where it is blended with the imported supply before it goes out to most of Long Beach. The utility serves more than 90,000 water connections and has added fluoride since 1971. Its rules expect system pressure of 35 to 70 pounds per square inch in normal operation, and they require a pressure-regulating device on the customer’s side wherever normal pressure will be above 80.

How Hard Is Long Beach’s Water?

That depends on the zone you are in. For the blended zone, the 2025 report gives an average hardness of 76 parts per million, or 4.4 grains per gallon, within a range of 66 to 100. For the zone it labels MWD, after the wholesaler of the imported water, the average is 220 parts per million, or 12.8 grains per gallon, and the range runs from 100 to 300. The utility describes its water overall as moderately hard to hard, and explains hardness as the level of dissolved minerals such as calcium and magnesium. On home water softeners it takes no side, calling the installation and use of one a personal preference.

Your Side of the Water Meter

The utility’s rules draw the line at the meter. The service connection, with the meter and the meter box, is the department’s property, and the department maintains it. From the point where your pipe joins the meter, the plumbing is yours to keep in repair and free of leaks. Two details are worth knowing. First, the shutoff valve inside the meter box is to be operated only by utility staff. The rules tell every customer to install a valve of their own on their side of the meter, as close to the box as is practical, and the utility will close and reopen its valve at no charge when you need the water off for a repair. If the shutoff at your house is seized or missing, we can install a working emergency shutoff valve. Second, when a city-owned tree is what broke a property owner’s water lateral, the rules say the utility will repair or relocate it if it is copper or plastic, and will not repair one made of galvanized pipe. The owner has to dig first to expose the damage. The utility’s 2024 inventory found no lead service lines in its system, and no galvanized ones requiring replacement. A broken main or a leak on the street side of the meter goes to (562) 570-2390.

Your Side of the Gas Meter

Gas is divided the same way. The pipe from the main in the street, alley or parkway to the meter is the utility’s, and so is the meter. Past the meter, the municipal code makes the customer responsible for installing all piping and equipment and for keeping it in good and safe condition. The utility calls that piping the customer houseline. It runs to the building and to anything outdoors that burns gas, such as a pool heater, a spa or a barbecue. The hazards the utility names for buried houselines are corrosion and leakage, and it advises owners to check for leaks periodically and to inspect metal pipe for corrosion. It surveys its own side as well: every residential gas meter in the city is checked for atmospheric corrosion on a three-year cycle.

If you smell gas, leave the building before you do anything else. From a safe place, call the utility’s emergency line at (562) 570-2140, or 911. Do not light anything, touch a light switch or use a phone near the smell. Under the municipal code only the utility’s people may turn the gas on or off at a meter, except in an emergency such as a fire or an earthquake. If you have shut it off, service is restored by calling (562) 570-5700. The city’s gas system has been tested this way before: by the utility’s own account, the 1933 earthquake caused 119 major breaks. On request, and at the customer’s cost, the utility will install an excess flow valve on its service line where the line can take one. That valve shuts the gas off automatically if the service line is broken. A motion-type earthquake valve on the house side is a different device, and we install those. Everything else we do on the owner’s side is on our Long Beach gas line page.

When the Water Bill Jumps

Long Beach has gone to smart water meters citywide, and the utility’s free WaterSmart portal shows your water use and can send alerts before a leak becomes a large bill. Its list of the usual causes starts with a running toilet, which it says can waste up to 180 gallons an hour. For a hidden or underground leak that a customer could not reasonably have known about, it offers a partial bill adjustment. The conditions it lists include use at least twice the previous year’s, corrective action within 45 days of the billing date, and proof of the repair with the application. It allows one adjustment per account every three years. When the meter says water is moving and you cannot find where, our leak detection can. Under a slab we can make a spot repair or reroute the line, and a reroute is usually what we recommend. Where a floor has to be opened we close it with a rough concrete patch, and the flooring is yours to finish.

Additional Information

Long Beach plumbing permits: which office, and who can apply?

The Building and Safety Bureau of Long Beach Community Development issues them, at the Permit Center on the second floor of City Hall, 411 West Ocean Boulevard. The counter is open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and from 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, closes from noon to 1:00 p.m., and encourages appointments. Its number is (562) 570-7648. Long Beach has adopted the 2025 California Plumbing Code, and its municipal code requires a plumbing permit to install or alter plumbing, water piping, gas piping or a water heater. The exemptions are narrow: stopping a leak without new materials, repairing a water heater that stays connected, replacing an exposed trap or a defective faucet, and gas piping of six feet or less between an approved outlet and an appliance in the same room. Permits are issued to licensed contractors. The code also allows the owner of a one- or two-family home to apply, provided the owner lives there or intends to and the work is not being done for a sale. So on a house or a duplex you occupy, we can pull the permit for you, or you can pull it yourself if you prefer. On any other building where we do the work, we take out the permit. A permit expires on its 90th day if the work has not started or has not been inspected. In one of the historic districts, the city asks owners to contact its planning staff at (562) 570-6194 before any project begins.

What hours can plumbing work be done in Long Beach?

For work that requires a permit, the city’s noise ordinance sets them. On weekdays, federal holidays included, tools and equipment that make loud or unusual noise may not be run between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. On a Saturday the window is 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. On a Sunday there is no construction work at all without a Sunday work permit from the city’s noise control officer, and then only between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Emergency work authorized by the building official is excepted throughout, and the ordinance does not reach into the harbor district. So a repipe or a sewer line replacement is planned for daytime hours, and a burst pipe or a sewage backup is stopped when it happens.

Is hydro jetting safe for the older pipes in Long Beach homes?

Usually, and we look before we assume. A camera inspection comes first. It shows what is blocking the line, and whether the pipe is sound enough to jet or has a cracked or collapsed section that needs repair. In Long Beach the camera does a second job, because the utility wants a lateral checked for a gas line cross bore before any cutting tool goes into it. On pipe that is intact, jetting scours the pipe wall where a cable only opens a hole, and that is why the result lasts longer. Our Long Beach hydro jetting page has more on sewer backups.

Do you work on apartment buildings in Long Beach?

Yes. By the Housing Element’s count just over half of the city’s housing units are multi-family and 61 percent of its households rent, so shared drain lines, building water heaters and after-hours backups come with the territory. We work for owners and property managers, give a free estimate, agree on the price before the work, and take out the permit when the job needs one. A line that keeps backing up can go on a regular cleaning schedule.

Plumbing Trouble in Long Beach? Call at Any Hour

Rooter & Plumbing Masters is veteran-owned, and Spanish is spoken in our office and by our crews. A drain that has been snaked twice this year, a wet spot between the meter and the house, a water heater dripping at its base, a toilet that gurgles when the washer drains: not one of them gets smaller by waiting.

Call (888) 855-6680 day or night for a free estimate in Long Beach, CA. Same-day service is available.