Rockmart, 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 Rockmart's sewer system. Sewage coming out of a manhole or into the street, or trouble between the main and the service lateral, goes to Rockmart Public Works; the service line from the lateral to your house is the owner's, and that is the line we work on, so call us at (404) 482-2527.

Rockmart, in Polk County, runs its own water, sewer and garbage services from the city government complex on North Piedmont Avenue. Its code is specific about who owns which part of a sewer connection, which shapes our first conversation with a Rockmart customer: we need to know where the city's service lateral ends.

Rockmart's Public Works Department oversees the day-to-day operation of the city's water and sewer collection and distribution lines, along with its streets (Rockmart Public Works). Wastewater goes to the Rockmart Water Pollution Control Plant, completed in 1996, a sequencing batch reactor plant designed to treat an average of 3 million gallons a day (Rockmart Waste Water Treatment Plant).

City water, sewer and garbage service is set up at the Water Department in the Rockmart government complex at 316 North Piedmont Avenue (Rockmart FAQs). Your city utility bill shows whether you pay for sewer as well as water; if it shows water only, ask the city whether your home is on a septic system, covered below.

Rockmart's Building Official reviews permit applications, and every contractor must file a regulatory application with the city before working inside the city limits (Rockmart Building Permits).

Sewer work adds several rules. A written city permit is required to uncover, connect to or alter a public sewer; a building sewer trench may not be backfilled until the work has been inspected and approved; and the applicant must notify the superintendent when the building sewer is ready, so the connection and testing can be done under city supervision (Rockmart Code § 22-65). If your job needs a permit, we tell you before work starts.

Any excavation to reach the service lateral starts with Georgia 811, which asks for a free locate request at least three business days ahead; state law requires one before digging with mechanized equipment (Georgia 811; Georgia dig law). The city's part in locating, under that law, stops at the edge of the public right-of-way.

Rockmart's code forbids sending stormwater, groundwater, roof runoff, subsurface drainage or cooling water into any sanitary sewer, and it forbids sending sewage into a storm sewer. Connecting roof downspouts, foundation drains or areaway drains to a building sewer is also banned unless the connection is approved for polluted surface drainage (Rockmart Code §§ 22-65, 22-66). Kitchen grease and wipes are covered in what not to flush or pour.

Inside Rockmart, owners on a street with a public sanitary sewer within 200 feet of the property line must connect within 30 days of official notice. Where no sewer is available, a septic system approved by the health officer may be used; a septic tank may not be built, repaired, altered or enlarged without the health officer's permit; and when sewer later becomes available, the home must connect within 30 days of notice and the old tank must be cleaned out and filled. Until then, the owner runs the septic system at no expense to the city (Rockmart Code §§ 22-63, 22-64).

For Rockmart homes on septic, the county office is Polk County Environmental Health, one of Northwest Georgia Public Health's county environmental health offices (NW Georgia Public Health offices). The district says an existing septic system is evaluated before loan closings, swimming pools and home additions, and it posts the application for septic repairs and modifications (NW Georgia Public Health).

Before paying for digging on a line that keeps clogging, ask Rockmart Public Works where the city's service lateral ends at your address; anything from that point to the main is the city's to maintain under city code. From there to your house, we clear the line with drain cleaning or main sewer line cleaning, use a sewer camera inspection to find the cause, and handle sewer line repair and sewer excavation. Because the owner also owns the water line from the curb box to the house, we do water line repair on that run too. Call Georgia Sewer at (404) 482-2527.