SAN-003 Public Sewer General Inspection & Construction Guidelines

Provides general inspection information and general construction guidelines for sewer permits and building sewer connections.

1. The applicant must have an issued sewer permit. (Note: a Building Permit is not a Sewer Permit).
2. The permit, inspection, sewer service, and connection fees must be paid.
3. A copy of the issued permit, site plan, approved plans (if any), and the Engineering Division - Permit Inspection Record (Job Card) must be kept onsite and be available to County staff upon request.

All work must conform to and all materials used shall be per the Sonoma County Water Agency’s Design and Construction Standards for Sanitation Facilities, Section 9, Approved Materials List. Both the standards and materials list standards referenced above may be viewed online at: www.sonomawater.org/sanitation-codes

1. Approval to commence any sewer work must be granted by the Permit Sonoma Engineering Inspection Division. Start Work approval may be requested by calling the Automated Inspection Request System at (707) 565-3551and scheduling an Inspection Item 430, a minimum of five days in advance of the proposed start work date.
2. All sewer lines must pass an air or water pressure test per Section 8.8 of Sonoma County Water Agency’s Design and Construction Standards for Sanitation Facilities prior to permit final. To avoid reinspection fees, it is recommended that the contractor perform this test once satisfactorily before calling for an inspection.

1. Additional fees will be assessed for reinspections, late inspections, or work done without a permit as per the current Permit Sonma Fee Schedule.
2. An encroachment permit is required for work in the public right-of-way.
3. A septic permit is required to abandon an existing septic tank. (Please see: Septic Tank Destruction Permits WLS-002).
4.  Some site conditions, such as steep grades or shallow sewer mains, may require the use of details other than those shown on the reverse side of this document. Some examples of those details include pump systems, pressure lines, or alternate trench sections. For more information, please review the project’s site conditions with Permit Sonoma Sanitation Staff.

Building Sewer Plan

Trench Detail

Clean-out Detail

A = Installed pipe fitting where necessary to increase pipe size of building drain to building sewer (where two pipes of dissimilar material are to be joined, they shall be joined with a flexible rubber coupling.)

These details are excerpts of SCWA Standard Drawings 122, 130, and 133. The complete standards may be viewed online at: www.sonomawater.org/standards