Who owns the water service line in San Francisco, CA
Which part of the pipe is yours
Yours from the meter to your building
Why, and what to do
If something’s wrong
Who to call first about the water service line
Who is responsible for which part
Everything from the main to the meter is the Department's property, including the meter box, even though the applicant paid to install it. Past the meter is the customer's, and the rules say so in terms. This is San Francisco's own statement.
- San Francisco
- The whole service connection and the meter. The Department states that "all pipe, valves, fittings, equipment, materials, meters, etc., up to and including the outlet equipment from the meter or meters shall remain the property of the Department", and defines a service installation as "the connection to the main, the pipe from the main to the meter, appurtenant valves and fittings, and the meter box and appurtenances". Service connections run "from the Department's mains to the meter at the opposite curb line", with the meter set "inside the curb line or as near thereto as possible". Note that the applicant pays for the installation and the Department owns it anyway.
- The property owner
- Everything past the meter, stated rather than left to inference. The Department provides that "the customer has sole control of the water delivered beyond the Department's meter and the Department is not responsible for maintenance and repairs of the pipes and fixtures beyond the meter", and that "all risk of loss beyond the point of delivery shall be borne by the customer". The utility says the same thing in plain words on its lead service line page: "the customer-owned water service line is the portion of the water service line that connects the meter box to the plumbing inside the customer's home or business."
What else is worth knowing
Something is happening to the Department's half of your pipe right now, and it is worth checking whether it is happening at your address. The SFPUC is working through the old galvanized service lines on its own side: it "removed all utility-owned lead water service lines in the 1980s", and says "we are currently replacing all utility-owned galvanized water service lines. We have replaced 60% of utility-owned galvanized service lines and expect to have 100% replaced within the next three years." There is a map on the same page that tells you whether the line at your address is utility-owned or customer-owned galvanized, which is the quickest way to find out where you stand. The other half of that is the part to plan for: "the customer-owned portion of the water service line is on your private property. This means that the SFPUC cannot replace this portion of the water service line for you. As the property owner, you are responsible for replacing the customer-owned portion of the water service line." So the Department may replace its length at its own cost and leave yours where it is - and if you were sent a letter saying your line is galvanized, the SFPUC is offering free lead testing. Note that none of this is a repair promise. The Rules give the Department title to everything up to the meter and nowhere undertake to maintain it; the replacement work is a programme the SFPUC is choosing to run, which is a different thing from a duty you could hold it to. And check the name on your water bill, because two parts of the city are separate water systems on the State's service-area register. The Presidio of San Francisco, covering about 5% of the city, has its own water system, which the Presidio Trust runs, treating water drawn mostly from Lobos Creek; if the Trust supplies your water, its terms govern your service rather than the SFPUC's. Treasure Island, over about 2% of the city, is a separate system as well, but the SFPUC operates it, so if you live there, ask the SFPUC whether these Rules decide who owns your line.
Sources
SFPUC Rules and Regulations Governing Water ServiceWhat San Francisco 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.
San Francisco has classified more of its service lines than most of California: 0.22% of its lines are unclassified, against 9.2% statewide.
- 182,707
- 407 (0.22%)
- 653
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 San Francisco's land inside the boundary it maps for the city's own water system. Within the same city limits it also maps "PRESIDIO OF SAN FRANCISCO" (5%). 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. San Francisco established 6.5% 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.
Your other pipe: the sewer lateral
For the sewer lateral, San Francisco gives the opposite answer to the one above:
The owner owns the sewer lateral and is responsible for maintaining it - but where Public Works decides a repair is needed in the roadway, the City makes that repair itself, from the curb to the main, and budgets for it rather than billing the owner.
Who pays for the sewer lateral in San Francisco, CALook up a specific address
This page describes what applies to properties in San Francisco 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.