Utah Code

Utah Code § 10-8-38 (2026)

Drainage and sewage systems -- Construction regulation and control -- Retainage -- Mandatory hookup -- Charges for use -- Collection of charges -- Service to tenants -- Failure to pay for service -- Service outside municipality

✓ current as of May 2026

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Boards of commissioners, city councils, and boards of trustees of cities and towns may construct, reconstruct, maintain, and operate, sewer systems, sewage treatment plants, culverts, drains, sewers, catch basins, manholes, cesspools, and all systems, equipment, and facilities necessary to the proper drainage, sewage, and sanitary sewage disposal requirements of the city or town and regulate the construction and use thereof.

If any payment on a contract with a private person, firm, or corporation to construct or reconstruct sewer systems, sewage treatment plants, culverts, drains, sewers, catch basins, manholes, cesspools, and other drainage and sewage systems is retained or withheld, it shall be retained or withheld and released as provided in Section 13-8-5.

In order to defray the cost of constructing, reconstructing, maintaining, or operating a sewer system or sewage treatment plant, a municipality may:

require connection to the sewer system if the sewer is available and within 300 feet of the property line of a property with a building used for human occupancy; and

make a reasonable charge for the use of the sewer system.

A municipality operating a waterworks system and a sewer system or sewage treatment plant may:

make one charge for the combined use of water and the services of the sewer system or sewage treatment plant; and

adopt an ordinance requiring a property owner desiring water and sewer service to submit a written application, signed by the owner or the owner's authorized agent, agreeing to pay, according to the ordinance enacted by the municipality, for the water and sewer service furnished the owner.

If a person fails to connect to the sewer when connection is required under Subsection (2)(a)(i) or fails to pay for the sewer service as required under applicable municipal ordinances, then the municipality may cause the water to be shut off from the premises until the person has:

hooked up to the sewer at the person's own expense; or

paid in full for all sewer service.

A municipality may not use an owner's failure to pay for sewer service furnished to the owner's property as a basis for not furnishing water to the property after ownership of the property is transferred to a subsequent owner.

A municipality may sell and deliver water or sewer services to others beyond the limits of the municipality from the surplus capacity of the municipality's waterworks or sewer system.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 7 cases, 1972–1997 · leading case: Banberry Dev. Corp. v. South Jordan City, 631 P.2d 899 (Utah 1981).

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Banberry Dev. Corp. v. South Jordan City, 631 P.2d 899 (Utah 1981). · cites it 21× “, 1953, § 10-8-38 and § 17-6-22. Section 10-8-38 empowers the city, for the purpose of defraying costs of construction or operation of a sewer system, to require mandatory hookup and payment of charges when a sewer is available and within 300 feet of any property containing a…”

Platt v. Town of Torrey, 949 P.2d 325 (Utah 1997). · cites it 4× “" Utah Code Ann. § 10-8-38 authorizes municipalities to construct and operate sewer systems and to "make a reasonable charge for the use thereof.”

Thomas v. Clearfield City, 642 P.2d 737 (Utah 1982). · cites it 2× “1, § 10-8-38. These considerations surely establish that the operation of a sanitary sewer system is a governmental function for purposes of the municipality's authority to operate, but it does not follow from this that the function automatically qualifies for governmental…”

Thompson v. Salt Lake City Corp., 724 P.2d 958 (Utah 1986). “, 1953, § 10-8-38(2) (Repl.Vol. 2A, Supp. 1985). 7 .”

Home Builders Ass'n of Gr. Salt Lake v. Provo City, 503 P.2d 451 (Utah 1972). “The relevant provisions of § 10-8-38, U.C.A., 1953, as amended 1969, specify: Any city or town may, for the- purpose of defraying the cost of construction, reconstruction, maintenance or operation of any sewer system or sewage-treatment plant may make a reasonable charge for the…”

Patterson v. Alpine City, 663 P.2d 95 (Utah 1983). “Cities and towns are empowered to charge for the use of their sewer systems by § 10-8-38. That statute provides in pertinent part: Any city or town may, for the purpose of defraying the cost of construction, reconstruction, maintenance or operation of any sewer system or sewage…”

Harding v. Alpine City, 656 P.2d 985 (Utah 1982). “, 1953, § 10-8-38. That section provides: Any city or town may, for the purpose of defraying the cost of construction, reconstruction, maintenance or operation of any sewer system or sewage treatment plant, provide for mandatory hookup where the sewer is available and within 300…”

— Utah Code § 10-8-38(2) — 1 case

Thompson v. Salt Lake City Corp., 724 P.2d 958 (Utah 1986). “, 1953, § 10-8-38(2) (Repl.Vol. 2A, Supp. 1985). 7 .”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.