Hampton, 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 the City of Hampton Utilities Department in Hampton. If a manhole is overflowing, neighbors share the backup, or the problem is in the connection from the city property line into the main, which city code reserves for the city, call the Utilities Department; for the building sewer from your house to the property line, call us at (404) 482-2527.

Hampton runs its own electric utility, and the same city department handles water and wastewater service (Hampton Utilities). For homeowners that means a city utility bill and city rules for the sewer under the yard.

Those rules are short and specific. Hampton's code draws the owner's share of a sewer connection at the city property line and reserves the final tie-in to the main for city crews.

The Hampton Utilities Department covers water and electric operations, system maintenance and customer service, and its staff includes a wastewater superintendent. The department's water section lists the Bear Creek water pollution control plant, which began operating in 1958 as a trickling filter plant. Customers apply for water and sewer service in person at City Hall and pay a cash security deposit for sewer service set by the mayor and council (Sec. 86-81).

If your sewer bill comes from someone else, use that provider's rules; the Henry County Water Authority is the county-wide sewer utility.

Building permits and inspections in Hampton are handled by the city's Community Development department through its online public portal, not by the county; Henry County's building department confirms that each city has its own (Henry County).

Sewer work also needs the city's sign-off. No one may uncover, connect to or alter a public sewer without a written city permit; owners apply on the city's form, with plans if requested, and pay a permit and inspection fee set by the mayor and council (Sec. 86-83). Building sewers are laid in open trenches unless the city approves another method, and no backfill may be placed until the work is inspected (Sec. 86-87). Trenchless work requires the city's approval, so we raise that before scheduling it. If the job needs a permit, we tell you before work starts. Georgia 811 asks anyone planning to dig to request a free locate at least three business days ahead (Georgia 811), and Georgia's dig law requires that request before digging with machines (dig law).

Hampton keeps rainwater out of the sanitary sewer by ordinance. Stormwater and other clean drainage must go to storm sewers or an approved natural outlet, and no one may discharge stormwater, surface water, groundwater, roof runoff or subsurface drainage into a sanitary sewer (Sec. 86-88).

The list of banned discharges in Sec. 86-89 reads like a homeowner's checklist once the industrial items are set aside: no liquid hotter than 150 degrees Fahrenheit, no waste carrying grease or other substances that harden between 32 and 150 degrees, no garbage that has not been properly shredded, and no rags, plastics or other solids that can block the flow. Restaurants fall under a separate grease management program run by the public works director. What not to flush or pour has household disposal tips.

Hampton's code treats unconnected homes near a sewer as "nonconforming." A home within two miles of a public sewer line that could drain to it by gravity, but is not connected, must connect within 60 days of official notice when it is destroyed and replaced or when its septic system fails and cannot be properly repaired. The city or the Henry County Health Department decides whether a system has failed, new construction within two miles must connect, and an owner who claims undue hardship can appeal in writing to the mayor and council within five days of the notice (Sec. 86-82).

Septic permits and records are kept by the Henry County environmental health office, which the Department of Public Health lists at 137 Henry Parkway in McDonough (DPH). We do not pump septic tanks or repair septic systems. If you are unsure which system serves your home, see septic or sewer: how to tell.

If your septic system is failing or you are rebuilding, call Hampton's Utilities Department before you call a septic contractor: city code may require a sewer connection instead of a repair. The building sewer from the house to the city property line is the owner's cost under Sec. 86-84, and that stretch is work we do with sewer excavation and sewer line replacement. On a connected home, we clear backups with drain cleaning, find cracked joints with a sewer camera inspection, and remove roots with root intrusion removal. Call Georgia Sewer at (404) 482-2527.