Cumming, GA Sewer and Drain Service: Local Rules

Georgia Sewer clears, inspects and repairs the private side of sewer and water lines for homes served by Cumming Utilities in Cumming. When the trouble is in the public sewer, or on a low-pressure line in the city-owned force main in the right-of-way, the utility handles it, and we tell you when that is the call to make.

The City of Cumming runs its own water and sewer utility, Cumming Utilities, and its sewer rules come from the city's utilities ordinance, Chapter 111 of the city code, rather than from Forsyth County's. That matters for homes outside the city limits too, because the utility's service area extends into the county.

Below is what Cumming Utilities and the city publish for homeowners and renters: who can get sewer, where the owner's part of the line ends, permits, what may go down the drain, and septic.

Cumming Utilities treats wastewater at its Bethelview Road Advanced Water Reclamation Facility, designed to treat an average of 8 million gallons a day, and discharges the treated water to Big Creek (Sanitary Sewer). Its Distribution and Collection Division maintains water and sewer lines and manholes, handles utility locates, and jets and unclogs sewer pipes for customers in Cumming and Forsyth County (Distribution and Collection).

The utility's Water and Sanitary Sewer Service Area map shows that area reaching well beyond the city limits into surrounding Forsyth County (service area map). Even inside it, sewer is available only to a limited number of customers; some locations can connect by gravity, while others need a grinder pump (Connect to Sewer). Homes outside the service area are covered on the Forsyth County page.

Inside the city, the Planning & Zoning Department reviews development plans, issues construction permits, inspects trade work and issues certificates of occupancy; its forms include a plumbing permit and a self-work permit affidavit (Planning and Zoning). Required inspections include under-slab plumbing and plumbing rough-in and final, and requests must be made no later than the day before (Inspection Information).

The utilities ordinance requires a written city permit before anyone uncovers, connects to or alters a public sewer. Building sewers go in by open trench unless the director approves otherwise, no backfill may be placed until the work is inspected and approved, and the connection is made and tested under the director's supervision (Utilities Ordinance, Sec. 111-133). Homes in the service area outside the city limits get building permits from Forsyth County; see the Forsyth County page.

Georgia 811 asks for at least three business days' notice before digging of any kind, and under state law nobody may excavate with mechanized equipment until a request is in (Georgia 811; Georgia dig law). The dig law's locating duty for sewer owners stops at the edge of the public right-of-way. If the job needs a permit, we tell you before work starts.

The ordinance bars connecting roof downspouts, foundation drains, areaway drains or other sources of surface runoff or groundwater to a building sewer, and it bans stormwater, surface water, groundwater, roof runoff and subsurface drainage from the sanitary sewer. Food service establishments must install and maintain grease interceptors (Utilities Ordinance, Secs. 111-133 and 111-134).

At home, Cumming Utilities calls grease a solid waste that belongs in the trash, not the sink or a septic tank, and warns that grease can harden in drain lines (Septic Tanks). For wipes and other household items, see what not to flush or pour.

Cumming Utilities says septic tanks are regulated by the Forsyth County Environmental Health Department (Septic Tanks). Under the city ordinance, private systems are permitted by the Forsyth County health department, existing homes on septic may stay on it unless it causes a public health problem, and the city or the health department can order a failing system connected to the public sewer within 30 days. An owner must also connect within 30 days of official notice when a public sewer is within 100 feet of the property line (Utilities Ordinance, Secs. 111-131 and 111-132).

Forsyth County's environmental health office and the county's septic pump-out program are described on the Forsyth County page. For upkeep, see septic tank pumping in Georgia.

On the owner's side of the line, our technicians handle drain cleaning, main sewer line cleaning and hydro jetting for clogs and grease, and sewer camera inspection to find where a problem sits. If the city asks you to fix a house sewer that lets in groundwater or rainwater, we do sewer line repair and replacement of the building sewer. To book a visit, call Georgia Sewer at (404) 482-2527 or request service.