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This article explains how to determine if a public sewer line is available at a given property or building. Previously in this article on how to determine if a building is connected to a public sewer or to a private septic tank we explained what basic questions to ask. Continuing here, we find out if a public sewer line is available at all at a property. If no one knows, this is the first question to settle. If a public sewer is present the building may or may not be connected to it. But if no sewer is available at a property then a buyer needs to use different, and more involved and detailed investigative steps to find and check out the septic tank and drainfield.

Citation of this article by reference to this website and brief quotation for the sole purpose of review are permitted. Use of this information at other websites, in books or pamphlets for sale is reserved to the author. Technical reviewers are welcome and are listed at "References." This is a chapter of Inspecting, Testing, & Maintaining Residential Septic Systems an online book on septic systems. © Copyright 2009 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use links at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

These clues suggest that a public or community sewer system is or is not present at a building

1. Municipal building department: This data is normally recorded with the town, village, or other municipality in which the home is located. Ask your town or village building department if your street and the homes on it are connected to a sewer.
   
   
2. Ask your neighbors about sewer lines or septic tanks: occupants of any neighborhood have a vital interest in local handling of waste and wastewater. Even if you or a realtor or attorney don't know if a sewer line is present or if homes have been connected, and even if there is no prior owner available to ask about your particular building, your neighbors are likely to know about their own buildings.
   
   
3. Age of the sewer: If a sewer system is present, ask when it was installed so that you can compare that with the age of the building or home you are buying.
   
   
4. 
   
   Manholes: Also if you see large manholes in the street, especially if the lid says “SEWER” then a local sewer is probably present.
   
   Our photo shows a sewer main access cover.
   
   The fact that the cover projects above the level of the pavement tells us that this is a pretty new system and that final street paving is probably incomplete.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. 
   Storm Drains: If you see storm drains like this one in the street, a local sewer main may be located there as well.
   
   But be careful! In some communities the storm drain system is separate and distinct from the sewer piping system.
   
   However it would be odd for any community to go to the expense of installing a storm drainage system without also installing a sewer system.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. 
   
   Sewage Pumping stations: If the home or street is downhill from or lower than a local sewer main, a home or neighborhood pumping station (municipal lift station) will be somewhere nearby. Pumping Stations describes sewer system pumping stations.
   
   We are referring to a large public pumping station not an individual private pumping system serving just the building you are concerned about.
   
   A sewage grinder pump or pumping system installed at or in the individual building does not tell us whether the pump is sending waste up to a public sewer main or waste out to a private septic system that happens to be higher than the building main drain.
   

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SEPTIC SYSTEMS HOME
SEPTIC INFO ARTICLES
  Info for Home Buyers or Owners
    Septic or Sewer Connection?
    What to Ask About Sewers or Septics
    What if Nobody Knows if its Sewer or Septic?
    Clues Indicating a Sewer System is Present
    Clues Indicating a Building is Connected to Sewer
    Guide for Buildings Connected to a Public Sewer
    Guide for Buildings Pre-Dating Sewer Installation
    Guide for Buildings Connected to a Private Septic
  Septic System Design
  Septic Inspection Testing
  Septic Maintenance Repair
  Septic Component & Product Suppliers
  Septic Videos
HOME BUYERS GUIDE to SEPTIC SYSTEMS
HOME SELLERS GUIDE TO SEPTIC INSPECT
SEPTIC SYSTEMS ONLINE BOOK
SEPTIC TANK PUMPING SCHEDULE
SEPTIC TANK PUMPING PROCEDURE
SEPTIC TANK INSPECTION PROCEDURE

Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair

• Our recommended books about building design, inspection, and repair, and about indoor environment testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore.
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More Information on Building Diagnostic Inspections and Repairs

• HOME BUYERS GUIDE to SEPTIC SYSTEMS
• The Septic System Information Website home page for this topic
• Septic Systems Inspection, Testing, & Maintenance- online textbook. Detailed how to inspect, maintain, repair information
• The Home Buyer's Guide to Septic Systems
• Septic Tank Pumping Guide: When, Why, How to pump the septic tank
• Home & Outdoor Living Water Requirements
• Septic Tank Capacity vs Usage in Daily Gallons of Wastewater Flow, calculating required septic tank size, calculating septic tank volume from size measurements
• How Big Should the Leach Field Be? - table of soil percolation rate vs. field size
• Septic System Drainfield Absorption System Biomat Formation - what leads to drain field clogging and expensive drainfield repairs
• Table of Required Septic & Well Clearances: Distances Between Septic System & Wells, Streams, Trees, etc.
• Ten Steps to Keeping a Septic System Working, suggestions from the U.S. EPA, edits and additions by DJF
• What is a Septic System An Engineer's View & Septic System FAQ's

Pennsylvania State Fact Sheets relating to domestic wastewater treatment systems include

• Pennsylvania State Wastewater Treatment Fact Sheet SW-161, Septic System Failure: Diagnosis and Treatment
• Pennsylvania State Wastewater Treatment Fact Sheet SW-162, The Soil Media and the Percolation Test
• Pennsylvania State Wastewater Treatment Fact Sheet SW-l64, Mound Systems for Wastewater Treatment
• Pennsylvania State Wastewater Treatment Fact Sheet SW-165, Septic Tank-Soil Absorption Systems
• Document Sources used for this web page include but are not limited to: Agricultural Fact Sheet #SW-161 "Septic Tank Pumping," by Paul D. Robillard and Kelli S. Martin. Penn State College of Agriculture - Cooperative Extension, edited and annotated by Dan Friedman (Thanks: to Bob Mackey for proofreading the original source material.)

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