OC San recently began the Miller-Holder Rhone Lane Sewer Easement Cleanup Project—an important effort in ensuring our infrastructure is accessible so it can operate reliably and without interruption. This project is clearing the easement area over the Miller-Holder Rhone Lane Sewer, an almost six-foot-wide pipeline carrying roughly 10 million gallons of wastewater daily from tens of thousands of people in our service area to our reclamation plants for treatment and recycling. First installed in 1959, this sewer line remains an integral part of the regional sewer system.
Maintaining a clear easement is essential to ensure OC San personnel can safely access the pipeline. Currently, encroachments within the easement limit our ability to perform routine and preventative maintenance—work that protects the health of our community and prevents environmentally damaging sewage spills.
What is an Easement?
An easement is the legal right for one to access, use, and control land belonging to another in accordance with the terms of the easement document. A utility easement refers to a utility company’s right to access, use, and control a portion of another person’s land to install, repair, replace, etc. utility facilities and structures (i.e., pipelines, etc.) in accordance with the specific terms of the utility easement document.
Project Background
The Miller-Holder Rhone Lane Sewer was installed in 1959 when most of Huntington Beach was farmland. The sewer easement is a 30-foot-wide utility easement consisting of 3,200 linear
feet of a 69-inch wastewater pipeline. The easement was recorded with the County of Orange in the early 1960s. The existing homes were built in the 1960s and 1970s when Southern California experienced widespread growth. The easement map below depicts the location of the properties subject to the sewer easement. OC San personnel must have access to the easement area to perform routine pipeline maintenance, conduct periodic inspections, and future rehabilitation and replacement.
Site Location
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Construction Schedule
March - December 2026