Who owns the water service line in Millbrae, CA
Which part of the pipe is yours
Yours from the meter to your building
Why, and what to doYours from the cleanout to your building — if certain conditions are met
Why, and what to do
If something’s wrong
Who to call first about the water service line
City of Millbrae Public Works Department 650-259-2375
Hours, after-hours and sourcesWho is responsible for which part
Who to call first
City of Millbrae Public Works Department
After hours: 650-363-4951
The City is responsible for the water main, the meter, and the service line between them. The customer is responsible for the plumbing from the meter into the building. This is Millbrae's own statement.
- Millbrae
- The City states that its "Public Works Department is responsible for the water distribution system, the water meter, and the service line between the meter and the distribution system" - so the run from the main up to and including the meter is the City's, wherever it sits. Its Municipal Code describes the same span, giving the city side as the pipeline "from the main to the property or curb line, up to and including the meter box and meter spud fitting", and makes all meters City property.
- The property owner
- Everything from the meter inward, buried pipe included - and the City says so twice, in two places on the same page. Under "Maintenance Responsibility": "customers are responsible for the internal plumbing from the water meter into the structure and for sewer laterals out to the City street sewer mains". Further down, under "Help in an Emergency", it puts the buried half beyond argument: "Please be advised the water line from the meter to the residence or place of business is the property owner's responsibility." That second sentence is the one to rely on if anybody tells you the pipe under your front garden is the City's. Note that the City says who looks after which length and never says who owns it.
Sources
City of Millbrae, Water & Sewer Service - "Maintenance Responsibility"What Millbrae reported to the State about service-line materials
Federal rules required every community water system to inventory its service lines and publish the result. These are the figures this one filed.
The inventory records what each line is made of: lead, galvanized requiring replacement, non-lead, or lead status unknown. “Still unclassified” counts the lines whose material has not been identified. It does not mean they are lead.
Millbrae has classified more of its service lines than most of California: 0.00% of its lines are unclassified, against 9.2% statewide.
- 6,368
- 0 (0.00%)
What this page cannot 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.
- The State's service area map puts 97% of Millbrae's land inside the boundary it maps for the city's own water system. A share of land is not a share of homes: open space counts the same as a dense block. Measured 25 Sep 2026.
- Classified does not mean inspected. Across California only 22% of service lines were established by field inspection; most of the rest come from records, the year of construction, or a predictive model.
- These figures were submitted to the State by the water system itself and were read on 4 Sep 2026. They may not reflect its current inventory - ask the water system to confirm anything about a specific address.
Your other pipe: the sewer lateral
For the sewer lateral, Millbrae says:
The owner maintains the whole lateral as a general rule - but where a conforming cleanout exists near the curb or the main, the City maintains the section from that cleanout to the main.
Your sewer lateral is yours to the cleanout; your water line stops being yours at the meter.
Who pays for the sewer lateral in Millbrae, CALook up a specific address
This page describes what applies to properties in Millbrae in general. To see which authorities serve one address, and what records exist for it, search for it.
Search for an addressHow 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.