2015-02-24_PWETC_Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Schwartz provided an overview of this topic that the City Council had requested the PWETC review and make recommendations of any revisions regarding ownership of water/sewer laterals and related liability. Current Policy • Ownership lies with property owner from city main to building • City participates in sewer wye replacement as a part of the private repair/replacement • Property owner hires contractor to repair or replace • Sewer connection at main (wye) is a frequent source of problem Discussion included a definition of the sanitary sewer connection (Type A) at the main with service connection off to the side; the necessity of digging up the entire line for repairs; with the City performing the street patch if on a city jurisdiction roadway, whether asphalt or concrete, at cost to the homeowner and to City standards. Mr. Culver noted this was the reason staff strongly encouraged residents, during any construction and/or mill and overlay work on their street if they've had any issues at all with backups or drains indicated during televising of that line, that they hire the City's utility contractor at that time to replace their service line while the street is dug up to avoid that additional cost to the homeowner and the City ending up with a patch on a newly rehabilitated roadway. At the request of Member Lenz, Mr. Schwartz advised that in newer developed areas or with newer homes, it was more likely that better and more technologically advanced materials had been used for the laterals. However, in neighborhoods with varying ages of homes, or those having sewer work done in the late 1950's and 1960's, those lines were clay the and at that time service laterals were stubbed out beyond the existing roadway and in most cases of clay the as well. Mr. Schwartz advised that those materials are now creating the problem due to root intrusion at the joints and subject to collapse if the line was not embedded in sand properly. In ownership considerations of the laterals, Mr. Schwartz advised that some cities take responsibility to the property line, and in Minnesota municipalities are protected to some degree under the discretionary immunity statutes provided a municipality has done due diligence in cleaning/inspecting lines, a city is then not liable for damages from backups from its mainlines. If there is a history of backups in a particular segment of the main and a municipality doesn't take steps to correct that issue by repairing or replacing it, a city would eventually become liable for the back-up damages. However, Mr. Schwartz noted that it becomes more difficult maintain the sewer lateral from the main to the property line; it could be a grey area when the backup occurred in the service lateral; or how to determine where it occurred and how to Page 4 of 19