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SEWER LINE INSTALLATION & REPLACEMENT · METRO ATLANTA
Get a free estimate
or call (678) 863-5620The short answer
Sewer line replacement or a new connection in Georgia means laying a new building sewer from the house drain to the utility's stub at code slope, paying connection fees, passing inspection and, on a septic conversion, pumping and filling the old tank. Atlanta Water & Sewage Solutions, a DPH-certified septic installer and pumper in Oxford, GA, does all of it.
Reviewed by Atlanta Water & Sewage Solutions · Last updated
Who does the work
One crew, the whole line
Key facts
Each row links to the agency, code or publisher it comes from. Tap a source to check it yourself.
| Topic | What it says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| When Georgia requires you to connect | Public sewer available within 200 ft of the property line or in an abutting right-of-way (511-3-1-.03(1)(a)) | Georgia DPH Rules Chapter 511-3-1 On-Site Sewage Management Systems (Jan 2016), 2016 |
| When a failing septic system must connect | Immediately, if sewer is available — a residential system under 2,000 gpd may be exempted if a compliant repair fits the lot | Georgia DPH Rules Chapter 511-3-1 On-Site Sewage Management Systems (Jan 2016), 2016 |
| Minimum slope for 3- to 6-inch drainage pipe | 1/8 inch per foot; 2-1/2-inch pipe and smaller: 1/4 inch per foot (Table 704.1) | Georgia State Minimum Standard Plumbing Code 2018 (IPC with Georgia amendments), Chapter 7 Sanitary Drainage — via UpCodes, 2018 |
| Minimum building sewer depth (Georgia amendment) | 6 inches below grade (§305.4.1, effective Jan 1, 2020) | Georgia State Minimum Standard Plumbing Code 2018, Chapter 3 General Regulations (§305.4.1 sewer depth) — via UpCodes, 2018 |
| Required cleanouts on a building sewer | One at or near where the building drain meets the building sewer, one every 100 ft, and one within 10 ft of the public right-of-way | Georgia State Minimum Standard Plumbing Code 2018 (IPC with Georgia amendments), Chapter 7 Sanitary Drainage — via UpCodes, 2018 |
| Abandoning a septic tank | Pumped by a certified pumper and filled with sand, soil or rock, or removed (511-3-1-.17(5)) | Georgia DPH Rules Chapter 511-3-1 On-Site Sewage Management Systems (Jan 2016), 2016 |
| NCWSA residential sewer fee (unincorporated Newton) | $3,650, plus a $75 sewer tap inspection fee; NCWSA does not make sewer taps | NCWSA Water and Sewer Fees (sheet header: effective July 1, 2025), 2025 |
| Gwinnett residential septic-to-sewer conversion (3/4" meter) | $4,172 system development charge plus permit fee | Residential Septic to Sewer Procedure for Unincorporated Gwinnett County |
| City of Monroe residential sewer connection fee (inside city) | $8,670 per ERU, plus a $2,317 (short side) or $3,078 (long side) tap fee | City of Monroe Wastewater Rates 2026, 2026 |
| Our credentials | Georgia DPH Certified Septic Tank Installer and Approved Septic Tank Pumper (lists dated 9/18/2026); incorporated in Georgia in 2004 | Georgia DPH — Approved Septic Tank Pumpers list (9/18/2026), 2026 |
Plain definitions
The whole story
Much of the east metro was built on septic and is being sewered in pieces. The Newton County Water & Sewerage Authority says most homes and businesses in unincorporated Newton County still aren't on sanitary sewer. DeKalb has written a whole code division for special septic-to-sewer conversion tax districts. So the call we get is often not "my sewer line broke" but "the county just ran a main past my house — now what?"
The first question is whether you have to connect or just may. Georgia's rule is the floor: if public sewer is within 200 ft of your property line or in an abutting right-of-way, a new building connects to it, and a failing septic system must connect if sewer is available. Local codes then set the clock. NCWSA can require a septic property to connect within 30 days of notice once sewer is within 200 ft. Covington gives 90 days after official notice. Monroe gives 30. DeKalb's general rule gives owners 24 months after notice when the sewer is within 100 ft — but inside a DeKalb conversion district, owners are encouraged, not required, to connect right away unless health or water-quality conditions warrant it.
The second question is who pays for what. Nearly everywhere, the pipe on your side is yours: Covington's code has the owner build the line from the house to the property line and apply for the connection from there to the street sewer. In unincorporated Newton, NCWSA has new customers fund any needed sewer extension, get a design professional's drawings approved, obtain easements if the lot isn't next to the sewer, and hire a contractor whose work NCWSA inspects. NCWSA's own guidance estimates $50 to $100 per foot from the building to the nearest manhole. In a DeKalb conversion district, the county caps each lot's share of the line extension at $7,500.
The third question is where the house plumbing leaves the building, because that decides where the new lateral starts. Rockdale's code says a conversion connects upstream of the septic tank — the house sewer is cut and redirected before the tank, not routed through it. On many ranch houses the old line to the tank leaves the back of the house while the street is out front, which can mean a longer run around the foundation. We walk the lot, find the building drain and the utility's stub, and lay out the route before anyone quotes you a number.
Worth knowing
A sewer line has one job: carry everything downhill fast enough that solids don't settle. Georgia's plumbing code sets the minimums. Table 704.1 requires 1/8 inch of fall per foot for 3- to 6-inch drainage pipe and 1/4 inch per foot for 2-1/2-inch pipe and smaller, and §704.1 requires uniform alignment at uniform slopes. On a typical 4-inch lateral, 1/8 inch per foot works out to about 12.5 inches of drop over 100 ft — before you account for the depth of the stub at the street.
That arithmetic is why a new line starts with elevations, not a backhoe. We shoot the invert at the house where the building drain leaves, the invert at the utility's stub or main, and the ground in between. If the numbers work, we set a steady grade the whole way. If the stub sits higher than the house drain allows, gravity won't do it, and we'll tell you so up front rather than bury a flat pipe that clogs.
Depth matters at both ends. Georgia amended the code to require building sewers at least 6 inches below grade, and in practice a lateral usually runs much deeper than that to meet the main. Where the new sewer shares a trench with the water service, §603.2 requires either approved sewer pipe materials or 5 ft of undisturbed or compacted earth between the two — so we plan the water line and the sewer line together when both are being replaced.
Cleanouts are the other thing a new line gets right from day one. The code calls for one at or near the junction of the building drain and building sewer, one every 100 ft, and — under Georgia's 2020 amendment — one within 10 ft of the public right-of-way. That last one marks the edge of your responsibility and gives the next person a clean way to inspect the line. For how an existing line fails and how we repair it, see sewer line repair.
A sewer line has one job: carry everything downhill fast enough that solids don't settle.
Your options
OPTION 01
When it fits: A new house, an addition that needs sewer, or a lot where the utility has left a stub.
In Rockdale, the connection permit and capital cost recovery charge come before the building permit.
OPTION 02
When it fits: The camera shows the old lateral is failing along its length, or it's too flat or undersized to keep.
Ask your utility whether any fee applies when an existing connection is replaced; we confirm it before quoting.
OPTION 03
When it fits: Sewer has reached your street, your septic system is failing with sewer available, or you've been given notice to connect.
We're on the Georgia DPH pumper list, so the tank abandonment is part of the same job — no second company to schedule.
How the job runs
We check with the utility that sewer is available to your lot, where the stub or main is, and at what depth. In Rockdale, a lot inside an area the county master plan designates for septic only can't apply for a connection.
Rockdale County Code of Ordinances, Ch. 98, Art. I, Div. 1 (Sec. 98-8) (Municode)
The utility's connection application and fees come first: in Gwinnett, a DWR Septic to Sewer Permit; in Rockdale, a validated wastewater connection permit; in unincorporated Newton, NCWSA's sewer fee and tap inspection fee.
Residential Septic to Sewer Procedure for Unincorporated Gwinnett County
Most jurisdictions also require a plumbing permit for the building sewer. Gwinnett's Plumbing Only Permit for a conversion costs 0.6 percent of the construction estimate ($30 minimum). We handle the permit.
Residential Septic to Sewer Procedure for Unincorporated Gwinnett County
We shoot elevations from the house drain to the stub, set the route around foundations, trees and the water service, and submit the utility locate before mechanized digging.
New pipe goes in at a uniform slope on firm bedding with cleanouts where the code places them. On a conversion, the house sewer is cut in upstream of the septic tank.
Georgia Plumbing Code §704.1, §708.1Rockdale County Code, Ch. 98, Art. III, Div. 6 — Private Wastewater Disposal Facilities (Municode)
The utility or building inspector checks the line and the connection before it's covered. Gwinnett requires an inspection at the cleanout connection.
Residential Septic to Sewer Procedure for Unincorporated Gwinnett County
The tank is pumped by a certified pumper and filled with sand, soil or rock, or removed. Gwinnett's procedure also allows crushing it and requires a second inspection after the tank is cleaned out and crushed.
511-3-1-.17(5)Georgia DPH Rules Chapter 511-3-1 On-Site Sewage Management Systems (Jan 2016)
Both trenches are backfilled in compacted layers and the topsoil goes back on. You get the permit and inspection records for your files.
Permits & the Georgia rules
Confirm the sewer is available to the lot and whether you're under notice to connect (and by when).↗
File the utility's connection application and pay its capacity or connection charge and any tap or inspection fee.↗
Obtain the plumbing permit for the building sewer before work starts — in DeKalb, a sewer connection permit alone only authorizes the right to connect at the owner's expense.↗
Install the building sewer to code slope, depth and cleanout requirements and call for the connection inspection.↗
On a conversion, abandon the septic tank per 511-3-1-.17(5) and any local procedure, then call for the final inspection.↗
Georgia rule Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 511-3-1-.03(1)(a)
“…if such system is available within two hundred feet (200') of the property line, or available in a public right-of-way abutting the property.”
Georgia rule Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 511-3-1-.03(1)(a)
“If an existing on-site sewage system fails, immediate connection shall be made…”
Georgia rule Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 511-3-1-.17(5)
“…have the abandoned tank pumped out by a certified pumper and fill the empty tank with sand, soil, or rock to prevent entrapment…”
Georgia rule Georgia Plumbing Code §708.1.3
“There shall be a cleanout installed at or near the junction of the building drain and the building sewer.”
New customers fund any sewer extension, need approved design drawings and easements where the lot isn't contiguous, and hire a contractor whose work NCWSA inspects. The residential sewer fee is $3,650 with a $75 tap inspection fee (sheet effective July 1, 2025); commercial fees are calculated by NCWSA Engineering.↗
Newton County — City of Covington
The owner builds the line from the house to the property line and applies to the city for the connection from there to the street sewer (§ 13.16.140). A 3/4-inch residential sewer tap is $3,600 on the city's published tap-fee page; over 4 inches or nonresidential is calculated by the City Engineer.↗
The residential sewer access fee was $1,811.93 on the 2022 rate sheet (the latest schedule we could locate). In a septic-to-sewer conversion district, the owner hires a contractor to lay pipe from the building drain to the county stub-out and pays a plumbing fee and a tap fee before inspection; the lot's extension share is capped at $7,500.↗
Unincorporated conversions need a DWR Septic to Sewer Permit and a Plumbing Only Permit, with two inspections: at the cleanout connection, and after the tank is cleaned out and crushed or filled with concrete or gravel. A new mainline tap is $550, with the customer providing excavation, backfill and pavement repair.↗
A failed private system must connect within 30 days of written notice where sewer is available. The new-service application fee is $200; the capital cost recovery charge is set by the Board of Commissioners and is 90% refundable on written request within 60 days of the validated permit.↗
Walton County — City of Monroe
Owners abutting a city sewer within 200 ft must connect at their own expense within 30 days of official notice (Sec. 98-142(e)), and a city permit is required to connect to any public sewer. The builder sewer inspection fee at permitting is $50.↗
Homes & businesses
Residential
A single-family connection is priced by the utility as one ERU, so the fee is a published number. The variables are on the ground: how far the house drain is from the stub, how deep the stub is, and whether the route crosses a driveway or runs past the old septic tank.
On a conversion we usually cut the new line in near the foundation, run it to the street, and abandon the tank in the same mobilization.
Commercial
Commercial connections are sized to the flow. Covington's code sets the residential ERU at 350 gpd and has the City Engineer calculate nonresidential charges; NCWSA's Engineering Division calculates commercial sewer fees; DeKalb bases non-residential access fees on population equivalents; Monroe publishes a per-ERU commercial redevelopment charge of $2,220.41.
Larger buildings may need a building sewer 8 inches or bigger, and the Georgia code then requires manholes rather than cleanouts at each change in direction and at least every 400 ft.
What it costs
New sewer line installed
$40–$180
per linear foot
Typical market range per HomeGuide (national), 2025.
Typical market range — HomeGuide — Sewer Line Installation Cost (updated December 2025), 2025
New sewer line, total (up to 40 linear feet)
$1,600–$7,200
per job
Typical market range per HomeGuide (national), 2025.
Typical market range — HomeGuide — Sewer Line Installation Cost (updated December 2025), 2025
Converting a septic tank to sewer
$3,000–$15,000
per job
Typical market range per HomeGuide (national), 2025.
Typical market range — HomeGuide — Sewer Line Installation Cost (updated December 2025), 2025
Hooking up to the city sewer system
$1,000–$15,000
per connection
National range per HomeGuide, 2025; local fees are listed in the county notes above.
Typical market range — HomeGuide — Sewer Line Installation Cost (updated December 2025), 2025
Connection from building to nearest manhole (unincorporated Newton)
$50–$100
per foot
NCWSA's own estimate in its connection guidelines (rev. 2018).
Typical market range — NCWSA — Connecting to Sanitary Sewer in Unincorporated Newton County (rev. 11/29/2018), 2018
Sewer cleanout installation
$500–$2,000
each
Typical market range per HomeGuide (national), 2025.
Typical market range — HomeGuide — Sewer Line Installation Cost (updated December 2025), 2025
Plumbing permit
$30–$500
per permit
Typical market range per HomeGuide (national), 2025.
Typical market range — HomeGuide — Sewer Line Installation Cost (updated December 2025), 2025
These are published third-party typical market ranges (HomeGuide 2025) and a utility estimate (NCWSA), not our prices. We give free on-site estimates once we've seen the route from your house to the sewer.
Free estimate: (678) 863-5620Where we do this
FAQ
Straight answers, with the rule or record behind them. Still unsure? Call and ask the crew that digs.
(678) 863-5620Under Georgia's rule, a building must connect when public sewer is within 200 ft of the property line or in an abutting right-of-way, and a failing septic system must connect if sewer is available. Local utilities add deadlines after notice — 30 days in NCWSA's rules and Monroe's code, 90 days in Covington's — and DeKalb's conversion districts encourage but don't force immediate connection.
Source: Georgia DPH Rules Chapter 511-3-1 On-Site Sewage Management Systems (Jan 2016)
Not in service. Georgia's rules say a discontinued tank must be pumped by a certified pumper and filled with sand, soil or rock, or removed. Gwinnett's procedure also accepts crushing it or filling it with concrete or gravel, and inspects it afterward. We're on the DPH pumper list, so we handle it as part of the conversion.
Source: Georgia DPH Rules Chapter 511-3-1 On-Site Sewage Management Systems (Jan 2016)
Georgia's plumbing code (Table 704.1) requires at least 1/8 inch of fall per foot for 3- to 6-inch drainage pipe, which covers the usual 4-inch house lateral, and 1/4 inch per foot for pipe 2-1/2 inches and smaller. The slope must be uniform — a line that's steep in one place and flat in another collects solids at the flat spot.
It varies. NCWSA's fee sheet says it does not make sewer taps and charges a $75 tap inspection fee. Gwinnett charges $550 for a mainline tap and expects the customer to provide excavation, backfill and pavement repair. We'll confirm the arrangement with your utility and do the excavation side.
Source: NCWSA Water and Sewer Fees (sheet header: effective July 1, 2025)
In unincorporated Newton, NCWSA's residential sewer fee is $3,650 plus a $75 tap inspection fee, on the sheet effective July 1, 2025. Inside Covington, a 3/4-inch residential sewer tap is $3,600 on the city's fee page. The lateral itself is separate; NCWSA estimates $50 to $100 per foot from the building to the nearest manhole.
Source: NCWSA Water and Sewer Fees (sheet header: effective July 1, 2025)
Usually a plumbing permit plus the utility's connection permit. In Rockdale, no building permit for a project that needs sewer is issued until Rockdale Water Resources validates the wastewater connection permit and all fees are paid. We handle the permit and line up the inspections.
Only under conditions. Georgia's plumbing code §603.2 allows it when the sewer is built of approved materials; otherwise the water service and building sewer need at least 5 ft of undisturbed or compacted earth between them. When we replace both, we plan the routes together so they meet the rule.
Then gravity alone won't carry the flow. Georgia's rules call for a building sewer installed to ensure gravity flow at a self-cleaning velocity throughout. We measure elevations at the house and the stub before quoting, so you know up front whether a gravity line works or a different setup is needed.
Source: Georgia DPH Rules Chapter 511-3-1 On-Site Sewage Management Systems (Jan 2016)
Keep going
Sources
Rules, costs and local facts on this page link to the agency, code or publisher that states them. Cost figures are third-party market ranges, not our prices — estimates are free.
Reviewed by Atlanta Water & Sewage Solutions · Last updated
Ready when you are
When sewer reaches your street, when a lot needs its first lateral, or when an old line has to come out end to end, the job is the same: a new pipe laid at code grade from the house to the tap. We handle the utility paperwork, the trench, the connection inspection and, on a conversion, the old septic tank.
(678) 863-5620Free estimate
or call (678) 863-5620