Who owns the water service line in Hayward, CA

Title to the meter and to every material used in making your water service connection belongs to the Hayward Municipal Water System, and "all water meters shall be maintained, repaired, and replaced by the City". The City's connection fees cover the work "from the water main up to the water meter and meter box", and the applicant is responsible "for connecting water service from the meter to the building" - the reverse of Hayward's sewer answer, where the customer keeps the pipe all the way to the main. This is Hayward's own statement.

Which part of the pipe is yours

Water service line
Yours from the meter to your building
Why, and what to do
Sewer lateral
Yours all the way to the main, including the fitting where it joins
Why, and what to do

The thick length is yours.

Where the responsibility divides

Hayward: The meter and the materials that connect you, owned as well as maintained. Section 11-2.07 states that "title to all meters and materials used in making a water service connection shall be with the Hayward Municipal Water System", and section 11-2.13 that "all water meters shall be maintained, repaired, and replaced by the City". The City's connection fees "cover all the materials and labor costs to connect from the water main up to the water meter and meter box set in the public right-of-way". Where a replacement or adjustment to "any meter or service" is needed because of the act, neglect or carelessness of the owner or occupant, that expense is charged back to them. The City put the same split in its own words when it filed its lead service line inventory with the State, dividing the water service into "the privately-owned portion of the water service (from the meter box to the home)" and "the City-owned portion of the water service (meter box to the water main)".
The property owner: Everything from the meter to the building. The City states that "the applicant is responsible for connecting water service from the meter to the building", that the work "is required to be completed by a licensed plumber", and that "a plumbing permit from the Building Division is required". The code's definition puts the handover in the same place: a water service connection is "the physical connection of the customer's pipe with the City's pipe, meter, or other facility owned by the City".
What else is worth knowing: The meter is the line, and in Hayward it is usually close to the street - the City says water meters are "typically set at the back of sidewalk curb", which is where its half ends and yours begins. Treat that as a location rather than a rule: the boundary is the meter itself, wherever yours happens to be. Three things follow. Work on your side needs a licensed plumber and a plumbing permit from the Building Division, which is more than most cities ask for a service line. Damage to the meter or the service caused by your own act, neglect or carelessness is charged back to you even though the City owns it. And because the City owns equipment sitting on the boundary of your property, the code forbids enclosing a meter by a fence and requires meters to be set only in public ways or places the Director of Public Works designates - worth knowing before you plan a front boundary wall. Note finally that your two pipes divide in different places: this one stops at the kerb, and your sewer lateral stays yours all the way to the main.

City of Hayward, Connecting to City water and sewer systems - what the water system installation and connection fees cover, where meters are set, and what the applicant is responsible for

Also quoted:

Checked 2026-09-19

What this does not tell you

This describes who is responsible for which part of the pipe. It is not a record of what your own service line is made of.
This authority's service line inventory - the record of which pipes are lead, and where - has not been matched here yet. Ask the utility for yours.

Check your address with Hayward

Your other pipe has a different answer

For the sewer lateral, Hayward gives the opposite answer to the one above:

The lateral is the customer's under the sidewalk, under the street, and at the joint: Hayward says the owner keeps "the portion of the sewer that is on private property and the portion under the sidewalk and the street up to and including where the lateral connects to the public system". The code reaches the same place through three sections; the City's page says it in one sentence.

Your sewer lateral is yours to the main, fitting included; your water line stops being yours at the meter.

Same trench, separate authorities, decided separately.

Who pays for the sewer lateral in Hayward, CA

How this compares across California

Why your two pipes disagree — the places where the sewer and water authorities contradict each other about the run beneath the road.
Which water systems know what is buried — how much of each California system’s network the utility can actually identify.