Who owns the water service line in Santa Ana, CA

Where the responsibility divides

Santa Ana

Title to the hardware, stated; upkeep of the service, not stated. Santa Ana Municipal Code section 39-18 provides that "all facilities, including but not limited to water meters, meter boxes, fire hydrants and fittings installed by the city, shall remain at all times the property of the city", and section 39-23 adds that "the curb stop and box will be supplied by the city and shall be for its exclusive use and under its exclusive control". The City also furnishes and installs the meter on a new, resized or relocated service. Chapter 39 never says who repairs the service pipe between the main and the meter - but Public Works answers it in as many words on the City's own frequently asked questions, for water surfacing at the meter box: "If the water is coming from the street side of the meter, it is the City's responsibility to fix it." The same pages add that "if the meter is damaged, the City will cover the costs of repair".

The property owner

Everything on the customer's side of the meter, at the customer's expense. Section 39-21(e) requires customers "to keep their plumbing pipes, service pipes, and all facilities on the customer's side of the meter in good order" and, "at their own expense, to locate and repair any leaks", and states that "it is not the city's responsibility to locate or repair any water facility on the customer's side of the meter". Section 39-23 puts the same duty on customers to keep "their service pipes, all plumbing fixtures, pipes, and other apparatus (except facilities owned by the city) in good repair and free from leakage and backflow at their own expense", and makes them "liable for all damages which may result from the customer's failure to maintain such facilities". Because the meter sits in the right-of-way, that side includes the length of pipe running from the building out to the street.

What else is worth knowing

Two things decide what you pay in Santa Ana, and neither is a leak. The first is whether you are asking for new or different service: section 39-17 makes an applicant for a new water service, or for a change in its size or location, "liable for all costs", and requires the work to "be built to city specifications by a private contractor, to be hired by applicant and inspected by city". The City furnishes and installs the meter; the pipe is your contractor's job and your bill. The second is whether a City facility needed attention because of something you did: section 39-18 provides that where a replacement, repair or adjustment is "rendered necessary by the act, omission, or negligence of the customer", the City's expense "shall be charged against and collected from the customer", and the water may be shut off until it is paid. As for a leak out in the street, the City has answered that - just not in the code. Chapter 39 says who owns what and stops; the sentence putting a street-side leak on the City is on Public Works' frequently asked questions, and it was written to answer a narrower question than yours, about water surfacing at the meter box rather than a break fifty feet back towards the main. Read it as the City's own plain statement of which side of the meter it looks after, which is what it plainly says, and still ring Public Works rather than assuming it settles your case. That the code's silence is deliberate is worth knowing too: the same chapter does promise upkeep elsewhere, for recycled water, where the City undertakes to own, operate and maintain the valves and the metering device. It knows how to write the sentence. For your drinking water it did not.

Checked 2026-09-18