The property owner, or the HOA or ownership group named in the CC&Rs. Phoenix treats everything upstream of the connection to the public sewer as privately owned and maintained. Arizona's 4.01 permit rule makes the owner keep an operation and maintenance manual, a 24-hour emergency number and permit records for the life of the station.
Where does the city's responsibility stop?
At the public sewer. Phoenix's Design Standards Manual for Water and Wastewater Systems defines a private sewer and lift station as "a privately owned piping system designed expressly for the purpose of collecting wastewater generated within a private development site and transporting it to the public sanitary sewer system."
The same manual addresses developments that can't drain by gravity and need a lift station smaller than 1 million gallons per day. For those, "the entire sewer system upstream of the service connection at the public gravity sewer will remain privately owned and maintained." It adds that any part of the private system that crosses into the public right of way needs a revocable permit from the city's Street Transportation Department.
Service lines follow the same pattern. Phoenix says service connections "are privately owned and maintained unless it's a single-family residential lot within a public right-of-way." A commercial property's sewer connection is the owner's. Our page on who is responsible for the sewer line in Phoenix covers the single-family rules.
Other Valley cities have their own design standards, so check with your city's water or utilities department. The basic split is the same idea: public main on one side, private system on the other.
What does Arizona require of the owner?
A site lift station permitted under Arizona's sewage collection system rule, A.A.C. R18-9-E301 (the ADEQ 4.01 General Permit), comes with duties that last as long as the station does. Our page on whether a private lift station needs ADEQ approval explains which systems fall under that rule. For those that do, the owner or operator must:
- Keep an operation and maintenance (O&M) manual. Before the system can go into service, the owner signs a certification that an O&M manual exists, gives a 24-hour emergency phone number and says where the manual is kept, available for the state to inspect on request.
- Run the system by that manual, to meet the rule's performance standards, which include preventing sewage releases to the land surface and providing "adequate inspection, maintenance, testing, visibility, and accessibility."
- Use certified operators. The system must be operated under the state's operator certification rules in 18 A.A.C. 5, Article 1.
- Follow confined space rules. The rule says to follow "all applicable state and federal confined space entry requirements" when working on the lift station.
- Post a warning sign. The station must be secured against tampering and carry at least one sign with the owner or operator's 24-hour emergency number.
- Keep the records. The owner must keep the permit documents "for the life of the facility."
### What the design rules mean for upkeep
The same rule sets how a permitted station is built, and each of those parts becomes something the owner has to keep working:
- Two pumps. The wet well needs at least two pumps, and the station must run at design flow "with any one pump out of service." A station limping along on one pump has lost its backup.
- Alarms. High or low levels in the wet well must trigger an audible or visible alarm at the site and at the system control center. Someone has to receive that alarm and answer it.
- Standby power. Stations averaging more than 10,000 gallons per day need a standby power source and redundant level controls that stay available 24 hours a day if the main power or controls fail. Generators need exercise and fuel to be ready.
- A corrosion-resistant wet well. The rule asks for wet well protection good for at least a 20-year operating life. Sewer gas is hard on concrete and metal, so inspections should look for it.
Phoenix builds the same duties into its application for privately owned sewage collection systems. The city's form asks for an O&M manual "provided to the owner/operator," names an ADEQ certified sewage collection system operator with a 24-hour number, and asks for draft CC&Rs showing "financial provisions regarding the operation, maintenance and replacement responsibility of the sewage collection system by the Homeowners Association (HOA) or other ownership group."
Owner, HOA or tenant?
It depends on how the property is held. Here's how it usually breaks down:
| Property type | Who usually owns and runs the station | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Single-owner commercial site | The property owner | Deed, site plans, O&M manual |
| HOA or condo community | The association | CC&Rs, reserve study |
| Multi-tenant center or office park | The owner or owners' association; the lease says what is billed back | Lease, CAM charges, CC&Rs |
| Single-tenant lease | Whoever the lease names for upkeep and for replacement | Lease repair and maintenance clauses |
The city and the state don't care who pays inside that arrangement. They hold the permittee and owner responsible. If a lease hands upkeep to a tenant, spell out who answers the alarm, who holds the service contract and who pays when a pump or panel dies. Our page on commercial plumbing responsibility between tenant and landlord goes deeper on lease language.
Can the city take it over?
Not by default. Phoenix's lift station design manual recommends that privately owned stations follow the city's standards anyway, "because they will need to be upgraded should the City ever be asked or required to assume responsibility for them." Read that as a warning. A private station built below city standards would need upgrades before the city would consider taking it on.
What should an owner do this year?
- 1Find the paperwork. Locate the O&M manual, as-built plans and permit records. If you can't, that's the first gap to close.
- 2Confirm the 24-hour number on the sign still reaches someone who will answer.
- 3Name the operator and the service company in writing, and make sure the alarm goes to them. Our page on how often to service a commercial lift station gives a schedule to hold them to, and what a lift station alarm means covers the first steps when it sounds.
- 4Budget for replacement. Pumps, floats and control panels wear out, and an HOA's reserve study should list them. A commercial plumbing preventive maintenance plan is a good place to track both.
- 5Keep grease and wipes out upstream. Kitchens need working grease interceptors, and tenants need to know what not to flush.
### Buying or leasing a property that has one
Ask for the O&M manual, the as-built plans, the permit records and the service history before you sign. Check that the warning sign's emergency number is current and find out who gets the alarm today. If the seller or landlord can't produce the manual, treat that as a gap to fix in the deal, because the 4.01 rule expects the owner to have one on hand for the state. For a lease, get the upkeep, alarm response and replacement duties in writing.
For how the station works day to day, see what a sewage lift station is and how it's maintained. If the lines feeding it back up, that's drain work. HQ Plumbing and Air can camera and jet commercial drain and sewer lines 24/7, with the price given up front.