Sewer Utility Easements

To better serve our customers, RVSD occasionally needs to access public utility easements on private property. Routine maintenance and repair work are essential to keep the sewer system working properly. During emergency conditions, access to easement areas and the ability to work within them is essential. 

The types of sewer system infrastructure located on easements includes manholes, rodholes and pipes, mostly located underground. Manholes and smaller rodholes are access points on the sewer system. Their iron lids need to be uncovered and always accessible to District personnel.

RVSD has an unusually high percentage of the public sewer system on private property. Approximately 37 percent of pipes – about 66 miles of the sewer system's total 200-miles of pipe, and 34 percent of manholes – are located on 15 percent of the private parcels located within our service area. This averages out to about 35 percent of the total system being located within an easement.

An easement is a defined area of private property that is legally designated for specific use, access and travel through by an entity other than the property owner. Different types of easements include the right-of-way, sewer (utilized by RVSD) and easements for public utilities such as drinking water, electricity and gas service.

Some of these easements are explicitly recorded as encumbrances on private property, and the rest are prescriptive easements because they have existed in their locations for decades. 

Easements provide RVSD the legal right of use and access to any of its facilities, equipment or assets that are located on private property in order to maintain the region's interconnected sewer system. This legal right of access applies whether or not the easement is officially recorded.

As one of the steps in RVSD gaining access, property owners, residents and businesses with a sewer easement located on their address may receive a door hanger notice like the one shown in the illustration to the right.

You can also watch our easements video for more information below!