Sewer Camera Inspection in Brookhaven, GA

Who owns the sewer pipe under a Brookhaven yard?

Brookhaven is unusual. The city does not run water or sewer, and its public works page says DeKalb County Watershed Management owns and operates the sanitary sewer system, including manholes, pipes and service laterals, and that only DeKalb or its contractors may work on that infrastructure. The city also reminds homeowners that systems on their own property are theirs. Where exactly your plumbing ends and the county lateral begins is not spelled out on those pages, which is precisely why a camera with a locator is useful: it shows where a defect is before anyone decides who should fix it.

Sewer spills go to DeKalb Watershed at 770.270.6243.

Are older Brookhaven homes more likely to have problems?

Often. About 30% of Brookhaven housing was built before 1980, including close to 9% from the 1950s. Historic Brookhaven and Lynwood Park have homes old enough to still have original drain pipe under the slab or crawl space, where root intrusion, scale and offset joints build up over time. Newer construction near Town Brookhaven and along Peachtree Road usually has plastic drain lines, which resist roots but can still sag if the ground settles. The median year built citywide is 1994.

What should I do before calling?

Stop running water if anything is backing up. Check whether the trouble is one fixture or the whole house. If you can, find the cleanout, usually a capped pipe near the foundation. Then note any recent work: a new water heater, a kitchen remodel or a recent snaking all help the plumber read the footage. If the camera shows a repair inside your property, Brookhaven's Community Development Department issues building permits through its online portal.

One local note

If the video shows the defect past your cleanout and toward the street, share the footage and the marked location with DeKalb Watershed. Because the county owns the laterals in Brookhaven, a clear recording of the problem and its distance from the house gives you something concrete to report instead of a guess. Keep a copy for your own records too, since the same footage helps if you sell the home or the symptoms return later.