Who owns the water service line in Novato, CA
Which part of the pipe is yours
Yours from the meter to your building
Why, and what to doYours all the way to the main, including the fitting where it joins
Why, and what to do
If something’s wrong
Who to call first about the water service line
Who is responsible for which part
North Marin Water District puts everything from its meter onward on the consumer. Regulation 10 provides that "The consumer shall, at his risk, furnish, install, maintain, repair and retain ownership and control over the pipes and water receiving equipment leading from the outlet of the District's water meter". This is North Marin Water District's own statement.
- The property owner
- The pipes and water receiving equipment from the outlet of the District's meter, owned and controlled by the consumer - including connecting the consumer's pipeline to the meter, and any pressure regulators or pumps, which go "on the consumer's side of the meter and at his own risk and expense."
What else is worth knowing
Sources
North Marin Water District, Regulation 10, Privately Owned FacilitiesWhat North Marin Water District 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.
North Marin Water District has classified more of its service lines than most of California: 2.16% of its lines are unclassified, against 9.2% statewide.
- 20,924
- 453 (2.2%)
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 93% of Novato's land inside the boundary it maps for North Marin Water District. 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. 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, Novato Sanitary District says:
In Novato the side sewer, from the building to the main, is the owner's. Novato Sanitary District's code provides that "Side sewers shall be maintained by the owner of the property served thereby." The District's lateral guidance adds that the lateral runs "to and including the connection to the public sewer main in the street" and is "the private property of the property owner".
Your sewer lateral is yours to the main, fitting included; your water line stops being yours at the meter.
Who pays for the sewer lateral in Novato, CALook up a specific address
This page describes what applies to properties in Novato 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.