Just moved in & what you need to know

At your service

The District is here to serve you to ensure your wastewater is transported safely to the San José/Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility for treatment. For those residences that are connected to the District sewer system, the transport of your wastewater is never turned on or off. Your building sewer lateral is connected to the District sanitary sewer system and does not require a phone call to the District to start or stop service.

However, some residences are connected to an on-site septic tank system, which does not belong to the District. These onsite wastewater treatment systems are to be maintained (PDF) by the property owner, usually by hiring a properly licensed contractor.

Call us first

Our crews work for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. If you ever experience sewage backing up in your residence or on your property, call the District first Monday to Friday 7:30 am to 4:30 pm at (408) 378-2407, press 2 or after hours at (408) 299-2507. We will inspect our sewer main line and your building lower sewer lateral at no additional charge as its included in the monthly sewer service that you will be paying.

You may have a device for wastewater backflow protection on your property that requires your maintenance

A device for wastewater backflow protection (BPD) minimizes the risk of harm to human health, property, and the environment by closing a flap when a backup of sewage located away from your residence is detected. The BPD is only required when a building has a plumbing fixture with a floor elevation that is 12 inches or less above the ground surface of our sanitary sewer main upstream manhole.

If a BPD is present on your property, when the BPD flap is closed, sewage from your residence will not flow to our system and will start backing up in your building sewer and could potentially enter your residence through plumbing drains and damage your residence floors and furnishings. The BPD should be checked at intervals recommended by the BPD manufacturer (typically every 3 to 6 months) to ensure that the flap is able to move freely and the device is free from sediment.

Whenever you contemplate work on your building or property

When you need to perform work on your building upper sewer lateral to address a backup, renovate your residence, build a new residence, split your property, construct an ADU, or abandon your septic tank apply for a permit to ensure access to your building lower sewer lateral meets standards in order for District Operations staff to perform maintenance activities and your wastewater discharge is accommodated in the District's piping transport system and for processing at the San José/Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility.