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Who owns the water service line in Modesto, CA

Which part of the pipe is yours

your buildingproperty linesidewalkstreetmain
The thick length is yours. A dashed marker means the position depends on your property — see below.

If something’s wrong

Who to call first about the water service line

The answer here has conditions, so it is not repeated in brief. Read who to call first, in full or look up your address.

Who is responsible for which part

Who to call first

Water Services Division

When to call: a water emergency such as a main break, a service leak or a valve leak

209-342-2246

Answered: 24 hours, 7 days a week

What happens: staff are dispatched to respond

Source

Modesto's water service stops in one of three places and which one is yours depends on your street: the property line if you are served from an alley, the curbline if the sidewalk runs along your property line, and the back of the sidewalk if the sidewalk runs along the curb. The owner furnishes, installs and maintains everything from there in - and has twenty-four hours to start fixing a leak once they know about it. This is Modesto's own statement.

Modesto
The service up to a boundary that moves with the street, and the meter outright. Section 11-1.03(a) states that the City "will furnish the service complete from its main to the property owner's property line, in case of an alley; to the curbline from a street main when the sidewalk is adjacent to property owner's property line; and to the back of sidewalk from a street main when the sidewalk is adjacent to the curbline". For meters the City takes on the work as well: section 11-1.06(f) has the City "furnish, install and maintain all meters, with the property owner or water user to pay the cost of the meter, installation and maintenance", and the City's Water Services division says the meters "are installed, maintained, and read by Water Services Division staff".
The property owner
Everything from the end of the City's service inward, and the code says so twice from two different starting points. Section 11-1.03(a): "the property owner shall furnish, install and maintain all piping to the City service." Section 11-1.03(c): property owners "shall be responsible for the maintenance of water pipes, water faucets, water plumbing fixtures, and all other water services appliances from the point the water meter exits into the plumbing of the property owner." And a third time, more broadly than either, in the Rules and Regulations at section 11-1.14(e): "All water users, customers and property owners must keep the service pipes in good order at their own expense and may be held liable for damages which may result from their failure to do so." That one says "the service pipes", with no boundary attached.

What decides which applies

Find out which of the three cases your address falls in before you assume anything, because the City's service ends in a different place for each and the difference is metres of pipe under paving. Served from an alley main, the City reaches your property line; served from a street main with the sidewalk against your property line, it reaches the curbline; served from a street main with the sidewalk against the curb, it reaches the back of the sidewalk. Note also that the code describes your half from two different starting points - "all piping to the City service" in one subsection and everything "from the point the water meter exits into the plumbing" in another - which agree where the meter sits at the end of the City's service and do not where it does not. Two further things worth knowing: you have twenty-four hours to start repairing a leak from the moment you knew or should have known about it, and if your property predates the City's metering programme you may still hold title to your own meter, in which case the City will take over its maintenance and replacement once you transfer that title. One more thing, and it is the one most likely to cost you. Modesto's code says the City FURNISHES the service to whichever of the three points is yours. It never says the City REPAIRS it. The only upkeep the City takes on anywhere in the chapter is for meters, and even there the owner pays the cost. Meanwhile the Rules and Regulations tell water users and property owners to keep "the service pipes" in good order at their own expense, without saying which pipes or where they stop. So if a leak appears out under the paving on the City's side of that boundary, do not assume the City pays for it - the code does not say so, and one of its sentences can be read against you. Put it to Water Services before anyone digs. The State's register puts the City's system over about 86% of Modesto's land; the rest, about 14%, is ground inside the city limits that no published water service area reaches - not a rival utility, and not necessarily unserved. Check the name on your water bill.

Sources

Modesto Municipal Code, Title 11 chapter 1, Water Rates and Regulations

Also quoted:

Checked

What Modesto 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.

Modesto has classified more of its service lines than most of California: 0.00% of its lines are unclassified, against 9.2% statewide.

Service lines reported
70,383
Still unclassified
1 (0.00%)
Across California, 9.2% of service lines are unclassified.
Share of service lines still unclassified
  • Modesto0.00%
  • California9.2%

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 86% of Modesto'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.
  • Unclassified means nobody has established what the pipe is made of. It does not mean lead was found.
  • Classified does not mean inspected, and this system inspected less than most. Modesto established 3.3% of its classifications by field inspection, against 22% across California; 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.
Modesto: official site

Your other pipe: the sewer lateral

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

The house sewer line is the owner's to build, maintain and repair - and in Modesto that reaches under the road, but stops short of the joint at the main. The City's packet defines the line as running from the building plumbing "to, but does not include, the connection at the City sewer main". The City also runs a cost-share programme for the part in the right-of-way, and will flush or inspect that part for free before you call a plumber.

Your sewer lateral is yours to the main; your water line stops being yours at the curb.

Same trench, separate authorities, decided separately.

Who pays for the sewer lateral in Modesto, CA

Look up a specific address

This page describes what applies to properties in Modesto in general. To see which authorities serve one address, and what records exist for it, search for it.

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How this compares across California