24-Hour Emergency Plumbing in Norco

Local plumbing notes: Norco

Norco began as a land venture. Rex B. Clark named it for his North Corona Land Company and held the grand opening on May 13, 1923. The Lake Norconian Club resort followed in 1929; the Navy turned it into a hospital in 1941, and those grounds now hold the Naval Surface Warfare Center Corona Division and the California Rehabilitation Center. The city incorporated on December 28, 1964. Interstate 15 cuts through the middle of town, Hamner Avenue, Sixth Street and River Road carry local traffic, and Norco College, Hidden Valley Golf Club and SilverLakes Equestrian and Sports Park are all in town. The Santa Ana River runs along the north edge, with Eastvale and Jurupa Valley on the far bank. Corona wraps around the west and south, and Riverside lies to the east.

The city calls itself Horsetown USA and keeps about 140 miles of horse trails, and the lots show it. Barns, arenas and corrals put hose bibs and water lines far from the house, buried under ground that horses walk every day, so a leak can surface well away from where it starts. Census figures (ACS 2024, 5-year) put Norco at about 6,840 housing units. Their median year built is 1975, 67 percent were built before 1980, and 94 percent stand alone as single-family detached houses, so condos and apartments are scarce. Houses of that age were commonly plumbed with copper or galvanized steel on the supply side and cast iron for the drains, and in many of them that original pipe is still in place.

Water in Norco comes from the city's own utility, except in a few small areas served by the Jurupa Community Services District; the name on your bill tells you which. The city buys most of its supply as treated groundwater from the Arlington and Chino desalters and from the City of Riverside, then adds water pumped from two city wells. It averages about 7.6 grains per gallon. That is a little softer than Corona's water but still hard enough to leave scale in the bottom of a tank heater and crust on aerators and showerheads as the years go by. If your property has a backflow device, the city sends a reminder each year when its test is due.

Most of Norco drains to the City of Norco sewer, but some homes still run to septic tanks. City code bans any new or upgraded septic system within 200 feet of a public sewer, and the city's stated goal is to connect every home, so for a house inside that distance the written estimate for a failing system covers a sewer connection rather than a new tank. On a sewered lot the lateral links the house to the city main, and on a deep lot that pipe can be long, so it is cleared and filmed before anyone picks up a shovel. Permits come from City of Norco Building and Safety, and each one is closed only after inspection: a water heater needs both of its seismic straps in place and a relief line that ends somewhere safe, and gas work must hold a pressure test. We take calls from Norco Hills, Norco Ridge Ranch and the Sixth Street corridor alike, and the work carries our written workmanship warranty.

Norco borders Corona, Eastvale, Jurupa Valley and Riverside. We serve those cities as well, and a call from any of them is handled from Corona, the same as calls from Norco. A person answers at every hour, the leak or clog is tracked to where it starts before drywall or flooring is disturbed, and work begins only after you sign the written estimate.