Service area
Lomita Plumbing and Slab Leaks
Lomita is a small city of about two square miles pressed against south Torrance and Harbor City. It has done something few cities its size do: run its own water department, since 1964.
Lomita runs its own water
The Lomita Water Department buys imported water from the Metropolitan Water District through the West Basin Municipal Water District, and pumps part of its supply from its own well, Well No. 5. The system is modest, a few thousand connections and roughly 46 miles of pipe, and a small corner of the southwest of the city is served by Cal Water instead.
For a homeowner, that means the meter, the curb valve and any question about the street-side pipe go to the city, at the counter on Narbonne Avenue. It also means your rates are set by the city council. The city adopted a five-year water rate structure in 2022, so a leak costs more each year it runs.
Bill up and nothing changed in the house? Read the meter with everything off, then call and tell us what it did.
The houses
Much of Lomita's single-family housing is postwar and modest, some of it on slabs, with the same copper-under-concrete and clay-lateral plumbing as the Torrance tracts across the boundary. Where a lot carries a second unit at the back, there can be a long run of buried supply pipe and a long lateral. A leak in a buried yard line can look like a slab leak on the bill; the meter test and a locator will tell them apart.
Permits and inspections
Work in Lomita is permitted by the City of Lomita, not Torrance or the county, even though the two cities share streets. Ask any company quoting a water heater, repipe or sewer job whether they pull Lomita permits regularly. The state strapping rule for tank water heaters applies here as everywhere in California.
When something goes wrong at night
Shut the main at the house, or at the curb if the house valve will not move. A leak on the city side of the meter is the water department's to fix; a leak on your side is yours. If water is coming up through the ground between the meter and the street, call the city.
ZIP codes covered 90717
Lomita questions
Who supplies water in Lomita?
The City of Lomita Water Department for most of the city; Cal Water for a small area in the southwest corner.
Is the leak on my side or the city’s?
The meter is the usual dividing line. Water surfacing between the meter and the main is a call to the water department.
Do Lomita and Torrance share permits?
No. Each city issues its own. Check which city your address is in; the boundary runs down the middle of some streets.
Services here
- Plumber in Torrance, CA
- Slab Leak Detection in Torrance
- Whole-House Repiping in Torrance
- Water Heater Replacement in Torrance
- Drain Cleaning in Torrance, CA
- Emergency Plumbing in Torrance
Also serving Torrance , Redondo Beach, Gardena, Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Get a quote in Lomita
Say what you are seeing and where, and a local plumbing company will get in touch once they have your details. Phone answered Mon–Fri 7am–7pm, Sat 8am–5pm Or call (424) 855-0716 if water is running right now, after you have shut it off.