In the City of Alexandria, the City owns the sanitary sewers and the City-owned portions of laterals, and AlexRenew treats the wastewater. A sewer camera inspection records the inside of your lateral so you can see where a blockage or break sits and whether it is on your side. Call the number on this page to be connected with a local plumber in Alexandria.
Alexandria conditions that shape the inspection
Alexandria is a historic Potomac River port about six miles from downtown Washington, with an 18th-century core in Old Town, close-in neighborhoods such as Del Ray and Rosemont, and denser high-rise areas in the West End and Potomac Yard. The City's median home was built in 1974, and the older streets are much older than that. Part of Old Town is served by a combined sewer, where storm runoff and household wastewater share pipes.
Because some lateral sections belong to the City and some to the owner, a camera is more useful here than in many places: the video and the distance counter on the cable show roughly where along the run the problem sits. The City also reimburses homeowners for backflow preventers installed on sewer laterals, and a camera survey is a sensible step before deciding on one.
Plenty of Alexandria mailing addresses, including ZIPs 22303, 22306-22312 and 22315, are in unincorporated Fairfax County. Those homes are on Fairfax County sewers and get permits from the County rather than the City.
What the camera can show
| Finding | What it looks like | Usual next step |
|---|---|---|
| Root intrusion | Hair-like or matted roots at joints | Cut or jet, then consider sealing the pipe |
| Cracked clay or cast iron | Visible fractures, missing pieces, heavy scale | Spot repair or a liner if the slope is sound |
| Belly or sag | Water pooling in a low stretch | Excavate and re-set that section |
| Grease or wipes | Buildup coating the pipe wall | Jetting and changes in what goes down the drain |
| Offset joint | A lip where two pipe sections no longer line up | Repair at that joint |
Signs worth a camera look
- Water rising in a basement floor drain when a toilet is flushed
- Gurgling at the kitchen sink while the washer pumps out
- A sewage smell in a rowhouse basement or crawlspace
- The same clog returning within weeks of being cleared
Timing notes
Lines that are already narrowed often give out after heavy summer storms or when a full house of guests puts more water through them. If sewage is coming up, stop using water and get help promptly; the camera goes in once flow is restored. If drains are only slow, scheduling an inspection on a weekday is easier than waiting for a full backup. Old Town rowhouses with tight front areas may need the plumber to enter through an inside cleanout or a toilet. Any repair that follows needs a permit from the Department of Code Administration, filed through the City's APEX system.
Sewer Camera Inspection questions in Alexandria
Who owns the sewer lateral between my house and the public main?
Can the footage help me decide on a sewer backflow preventer?
My mailing address uses the town's name, but I'm outside its limits. Who runs my sewer?
Will tree roots show up on the camera?
More plumbing services in Alexandria
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