How do private sewers connect to the public sewer in Scottsdale?

• Multifamily (a): private sewers may be installed at the developer's discretion in multifamily developments. They stay out of public utility easements and the right-of-way except to connect to a public sewer.
• Non-subdivided commercial and industrial (b): private sewers must be installed within these properties, with the same limit on easements and right-of-way.
• Where it connects (c): a private sewer connects to the public sewer at a manhole or wye connection located in a public utility easement or public right-of-way. The line, including any wye, is private until it enters the manhole or the public sewer. The city maintains the manhole and all public sewers within a public utility easement or right-of-way.
• Shared private lines (d): two or more buildings on the same parcel, or on contiguous lots under different owners, may share one or more private sewer lines only if three things are true:

1. 1An incorporated association or management firm is responsible for paying the sewer service charge.
2. 2Each parcel or lot has city sewer frontage on at least one side.
3. 3The association or management firm charges no fee to connect an individual parcel to the private line.

• Private sewer: a sewer owned and maintained by the property owner or association, not by the city.
• Wye connection: a Y-shaped fitting that joins a private line to another pipe, here to the public sewer.
• Public utility easement (PUE): a strip on private property reserved for public utilities. The city maintains public sewers inside it.
• Contiguous lots: lots that touch. The shared-line rule applies to touching lots, or buildings on one parcel.

Developers, owners and management firms of commercial, industrial and multifamily properties. It matters when you buy or lease a center with a private sewer, hire a plumber to open a drain, or decide who pays for a collapse. For one home on its own lot, the lateral rule in Sec. 49-127 is the one that applies.

A center with four pads and one line. The center's private sewer collects from every pad and connects to the public sewer at a manhole in the street. A stoppage inside the parcel is the owner's job, and the line stays the owner's up to the manhole.

Two owners on touching lots. They want one shared line. The code allows it only if an association or management firm pays the sewer charge, each lot has city sewer frontage and no one charges the other for connecting.

The edge case: the line in the easement. Private sewers must stay out of a public easement except to connect. A private line that runs down a PUE for convenience is what the code prohibits, so raise it at plan review or before you buy.

1. 1Get the as-built or civil sheets that show where the private sewer ends and the public manhole begins.
2. 2Confirm who the association or management firm is for any shared line, and who pays the sewer bill.
3. 3Add the sewer to your maintenance plan and camera-inspect it on a schedule, since the code puts all repair on the private side.
4. 4For work in the street, use the excavation permit page.
5. 5Contact Scottsdale Water if your drawings and the city's records disagree.

• "Any manhole is the city's." The code has the city maintain the manhole and public sewers within a public easement or right-of-way. Check where yours sits.
• "A shared line is automatically allowed." It needs an association or management firm, city frontage on each lot and no connection fee.
• "Our neighbor can just tie into our sewer." Not without meeting the three conditions in subsection (d).

This page summarizes the code. The adopted text on Municode governs.