What the city pays
Maryland Heights funds its Sewer Lateral Repair Program with a $50 yearly fee on residential properties of six or fewer dwellings. Voters raised it from $28 by approving Prop S in April 2014.
The program pays 100 percent of a lateral repair up to $10,000, and half of anything above that. The city points out that the lateral is private property and that homeowner's insurance usually doesn't cover it. Public Works takes questions at (314) 291-6550.
Clog or broken pipe
The program pays for repairs. It isn't a cleaning service, so the first job is still getting the line open.
Many houses here went up in the decades after the war, on clay laterals with cast iron inside. A clay line that clogs once a year with roots is normal for its age, and a yearly cabling handles it. A line that clogs every few months, or sends mud back on the cable, is likely broken. A camera inspection settles which one you have, and the footage is what you take to the city.
MSD maintains the public mains in Maryland Heights. If sewage comes up when nobody in the building is running water, call MSD's 24-hour line at 314-768-6260 before you call anyone else. MSD sends a crew to find the cause, and it makes the repair if the public sewer is at fault.
Apartments, hotels and commercial buildings
Maryland Heights has a lot of multi-unit and commercial property, and none of it with more than six units is covered by the city program. Those lines carry more grease and more wipes than a house does. They do best with hydro jetting on a set schedule.
When the pipe itself is worn out, the company that answers this number lines apartment and commercial buildings while they stay occupied.
Compare sewer lateral programs across 29 St. Louis-area cities