Why is it important to maintainlaterals?

You received this brochure because yourproperty is located within a root hot spot. Thismakes your lateral more susceptible to rootintrusion, especially if it is over 10 years old. Rootscan damage your lateral and cause it to collapseover time. Properly maintaining your lateral willincrease its useful life, help prevent sewage frombacking up into your home and minimize seweroverflow in your streets. Proper maintenance willhelp you avoid early and costly bills to repair orreplace your lateral.

Tree roots in laterals can block and damagethem. Roots can enter laterals through cracksor loose joints. Over half of tree roots in theCity’s sewer system enter through defectiveprivate laterals.

The City maintains public sewers by: (1)routinely removing and clearing roots usingmechanical equipment and applying chemicaltreatment; (2) systematically inspecting streetsewers using Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)

technology to identify structural defects; and (3)planning and implementing capital improvementprojects to repair, rehabilitate or replace structurallydeficient sewers.

It is important that property owners inspect,maintain, repair and/or replace private laterals to helpreduce sewer overflow and protect both private andpublic sewers from further damage.

What Causes Roots to Grow in Pipes?Roots are attracted to water vapor that escapes

through cracks or loose joints in sewer pipes. This meansroots will move towards and penetrate through cracks,loose joints or any openings in sewer pipes. This happenseven in the winter when trees appear to be dormant.

Once inside, roots will continue to grow and fill thepipe to create a root mass that can become mattedwith grease, paper and other solid matter. This is whateventually causes a clogged sewer.

As roots continue to grow within a pipe, they beginto expand and exert pressure at their point of entry.This can result in a pipe rupture. A ruptured sewer pipecan be costly to fix or replace.

Signs that a sewer is blocked include slowflowing drains, gurgling sounds from a toilet bowland wet areas around washing machine floordrains. A pipe that is not cleared will becomecompletely blocked and may rupture.

Pipes Susceptible to Root DamageCertain pipe material is more vulnerable to root

intrusion than others. Vitrified clay pipes, forexample, are more susceptible to root penetrationand damage when compared with Schedule 40 ABSand PVC DWV pipes that have fewer and moretightly fitted joints.

What to consider when planting ormaintaining trees:

As a homeowner, you need to know where yourlateral is and how it runs across your property intothe street sewer so that you can avoid planting ormaintaining trees that may grow into or harm yourlateral. Also, there are certain tree species that aremore likely to grow extended roots and potentiallydamage your pipes. Do some basic research whenselecting a tree to plant on your property andseriously consider where you will plant that tree inrelation to your lateral.

What Can Be Done to Remove Tree Rootsin Sewer Pipes?

The most common method to remove rootsfrom sewer pipes is to use augers and sawsaugmented with commercial herbicides that killroots. Do not, however, use copper sulfate andsodium hydroxide because although thesechemicals kill roots, they do not prevent re-growth.They also damage the environment when theyflow into our oceans and other receiving waters.

A more up-to-date method used to clear pipesis to pump a mixture of water, an herbicide and afoaming agent through the pipe.

Do consult a licensed plumber or sewercontractor before deciding which remedy to use.Consult the Yellow Pages under the heading“Sewer” or “Plumbing” for information oncompanies that perform CCTV pipe inspection androot control. It is always a good idea to get two orthree quotes for any substantial work.

The City of Los Angeles operates and

maintains the largest wastewater collection

system in the United States. This includes more

than 6,600 miles of public sewers serving a

residential population of about four million

people in a 550- square mile service area. There

are also some 11,000 miles of private lateral

sewers or laterals throughout the City.

Photo shows tree roots that have grown into a sanitary sewerline and clogged and broke the pipe.

Laterals are small sewer pipes that carrywastewater from your home to the public sewer inyour street. Your lateral consists of two parts:UPPER lateral that runs from your home to yourproperty line; and LOWER lateral that runs fromyour property line to the street sewer.

Property owners own and are responsible forthe proper operation and maintenance of boththeir upper and lower laterals.

Produced by GIS GroupWastewater Engineering Services DivisionBureau of SanitationCity of Los AngelesCreated March 10, 2008Revised April 24, 2008

S:\GISUNIT\Projects\RootTreatment\07_08\CDs\CD3Thomas Bros Data reproduced with permisision granted by THOMAS BROS MAP

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Council District 3Root Hot Spot Locations

LegendCity of Los AngelesCouncil District 3Neighborhood CouncilFreewayMajor Street

Root Hot Spot Reaches (Sewers W/Root Intrusion Problems)CD 3 Parcel total: 67,259

Parcels Tributary to Hot Spot Reaches (10,200)Non-Tributary Parcels (57,059)Selected but undeliverable (no address): 508

1 0 10.5 Miles

LRN Brochure1 5-28-08LRN 5-28-08.pdf