24-Hour Emergency Plumbing in Perris

Local plumbing notes: Perris

The water story in Perris changed not long ago. On October 15, 2024, Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD) took over the last water and sewer customers the City of Perris still served, and the city no longer runs a water utility at all. Most homes now get State Water Project water treated at the Mills plant, at about 5 grains per gallon. A few local wells are the exception: they supply parts of northeast Perris and a small area along Perris Boulevard, and their water is much harder, from about 10 to as much as 19 grains per gallon. If your heater fills with scale or your faucets crust over sooner than a friend's across town, that difference in source may be the reason.

The town grew up in 1885 beside the California Southern Railroad and took the name of the line's chief engineer, Fred T. Perris. It incorporated on May 26, 1911. The Historic Perris Depot still stands downtown, and the Southern California Railway Museum has had its home in Perris from 1958 onward. I-215, the 74 and the Ramona Expressway all pass through, Perris Valley Airport is here, March Air Reserve Base sits on the north edge, and Lake Perris State Recreation Area stretches between Perris and Moreno Valley. Moreno Valley is the neighbor to the north, Menifee the one to the south.

About 20,100 housing units stand in Perris, per the ACS 2024 5-year estimates of the US Census. The median one dates to 2000, 51 percent were built in 2000 or later, just 13 percent before 1980, and 79 percent are single-family detached. The oldest houses cluster in the small core around the depot in Downtown Perris, where drains and supply pipes have had the longest to wear. Everything else, including neighborhoods such as May Ranch, Villages of Avalon and Green Valley, belongs to the big tracts built from the 1990s through the 2010s. Those homes are now old enough that original shutoff valves, supply hoses, toilet parts and faucet cartridges begin to give out, often one after another.

Under EMWD standards, the 4-inch and 6-inch sewer laterals are private, which makes the pipe from the house out to the main the owner's to maintain. Roots, a sagging stretch or a cracked joint in that line are a homeowner repair. For permits, the City of Perris says replacing a water heater needs a building permit, and so does adding or altering plumbing; City of Perris Building and Safety issues them. We pull that permit, strap the new heater twice against earthquakes, run its relief valve to a safe spot, put a pressure test on the gas connection and keep the permit open until the city inspector has passed the work, then close it. The job is backed by a written workmanship warranty, and our 24-hour emergency response reaches Perris from Corona.

Perris borders Menifee and Moreno Valley. We serve those cities as well, and a call from any of them is handled from Corona, the same as calls from Perris. 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.