Buena Park Hydro Jetting

Most Buena Park owners start looking at hydro jetting when a main sewer line keeps backing up, and in this city that line is often around seventy years old. Jetting runs high-pressure water through the lateral from a clean-out and strips roots, grease and scale off the pipe wall. We put a camera in before and after, so you can see what came out and what the pipe looks like now.

Why are so many Buena Park sewer lines the same age?

Because most of the city was built at once. A historical report prepared for the City describes farmland around the old Buena Park core turning into single-family tracts in the early 1950s, concentrated around I-5 and Beach Boulevard, while the population went from 5,483 in 1950 to 46,601 in 1960. The city incorporated in 1953, right in the middle of that rush. SCAG’s housing data still shows the 1950s as Buena Park’s biggest building decade, with close to 39 percent of today’s homes dating from it.

Clay sewer pipe from that period was laid in short lengths with a joint every few feet. After seven decades of settling soil, tree roots and kitchen grease, those joints are where the trouble starts.

Where does my responsibility end?

Further out than many owners expect. The City’s Public Works FAQ says the property owner is responsible for the sewer lateral all the way to the saddle or wye where it joins the main, not just to the sidewalk or curb. The City handles the main line only, through a Sewer Services Division that looks after more than 168 miles of mains and over 3,400 manholes and video-inspects about 200,000 feet of sewer each year. From there the flow goes to OC San for treatment.

One local rule to know before anyone digs: work under the sidewalk, parkway or street needs a City public works permit and a contractor holding a Class A, C-42 or C-34 license with the required insurance on file. Plumbing work on the private side goes through the Building Division of the Community Development Department.

What happens when we come out?

We find your clean-out and send a camera toward the street, noting the pipe material and any roots, sags or cracked joints. If the pipe is sound enough, we jet from the clean-out to the main and spend extra passes where roots or grease had built up. A second camera run confirms the line is open. If we find a break, the jetter stays in the truck and we walk you through repair options instead.

Is jetting safe on a pipe that old?

Usually, when the camera shows intact pipe. A cable is fine for a one-off clog, but on a root-prone 1950s lateral it tends to cut a path that grows back. Jetting clears the full diameter. Where clay is cracked or offset, pressure has to be chosen carefully or the pipe repaired first. Our article on whether hydro jetting is safe for old pipes covers this in more depth.

Which parts of Buena Park do you cover?

All of it, on both sides of State Route 91, which splits the city into North and South Buena Park. That includes the tract streets off Beach Boulevard, the blocks around the Buena Park Downtown mall, and the neighborhoods near Ralph B. Clark Regional Park and the Metrolink station. Restaurants along Beach Boulevard, from the entertainment corridor around Knott’s Berry Farm to The Source OC, are a different job: grease loads are heavier, and the City publishes a grease guide for restaurants that is worth following between cleanings.

Who handles the water?

The City of Buena Park Water Division. About 70 percent of the city’s supply is groundwater pumped from beneath north Orange County, and the rest is imported. Call the City about meters, bills or a leak at the street; call us for anything inside your property line.

Right now we offer $299 hydro jetting from a clean-out (terms apply; up to 75 ft with proper access). Our other Buena Park services are listed on the Buena Park page, and (888) 300-9648 is answered around the clock.