Maintaining Santa Barbara’s Sewer System: Rehabilitation Work Begins This Spring

The City of Santa Barbara Public Works Department will begin its annual Wastewater Main Rehabilitation Project (Project) this spring and is anticipated to be completed in winter 2026. The City has contracted with Insituform Technologies, LLC to perform the work. Construction will take place at 75 locations throughout the City.

We anticipate the contractor’s rehabilitation work will require at least three site visits to each location. Each site visit will take approximately one day. Properties impacted will receive a separate notice of the construction start and end dates at their residence/business 72 hours prior to the beginning of work.

The Project will take advantage of “trenchless technology,” where a pipe liner is inserted into the existing sewer pipeline from one manhole to the next with minimal to no excavation. In certain locations, excavation may be required to repair small sections of pipe before lining can occur. Most work will take place from manholes within the street, but some locations will require access to manholes on private property.

Project Benefits: This Project is part of the City’s annual program to maintain the City’s sanitary sewer infrastructure. The Project will rehabilitate approximately 2.7 miles of sewer mains, with the goal of proactively rehabilitating all sewer mains before they reach the end of their useful life and fail. Protecting public health and the environment through timely maintenance of our wastewater collection system is a top priority.

What to Expect? During construction, heavy equipment will be present as well as construction workers and traffic at the construction sites. Temporary traffic control measures will be put in place and parking in the area may be limited during construction. Driveways will be accessible, but there may be short delays as construction equipment is being used. If your residence or business is connected to a sewer main that is being rehabilitated, please limit water usage while the pipe liner is being installed.

For more Project information and to see the locations where the Project will take place, please navigate to the Wastewater Main Rehabilitation Project Fiscal Year 2025 on the Public Works Major Projects Map.

We appreciate your patience during this construction Project and apologize for any inconvenience.

Questions? Please contact the following staff:

Heidi Braunger, Project Engineer            
(805) 897-1902                                      
HBraunger@SantaBarbaraCA.gov        

Edwin Pacheco, Project Engineer I
(805) 564-5370
EPacheco@SantaBarbaraCA.gov