California homeowner’s 53-year-old backyard pool faces removal over easement

In 1973, California homeowner Frank Clarke paid $5,000 for a backyard swimming pool after getting the required city permits. More than five decades later, the pool is part of a legal dispute over a sewer easement in Huntington Beach, LA Times reported. The Orange County Sanitation District (OC San) says it needs access to the area, while homeowners say they built their backyard structures with city approval.The dispute involves 29 properties on Rhone Lane, where a 30-foot-wide sewer easement runs through the backyards. The easement contains a 69-inch wastewater pipeline installed in 1959, when much of Huntington Beach was farmland. The pipeline carries roughly 10 million gallons of wastewater daily and is part of the regional sewer system.The dispute has now reached court. In May 2026, an Orange County Superior Court judge denied OC San’s motion, allowing the homeowners’ case over the easement to proceed to trial.