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Who owns the water service line in Auburn, WA

Which part of the pipe is yours

  • Water service line

    Yours from the meter to your building — if certain conditions are met

    Why, and what to do
  • Sewer lateral

    Yours from your property line to your building — if certain conditions are met

    Why, and what to do
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

BelowGrid has no first-call guidance on file from Auburn about the water service line.

The documents this answer is built on

Who is responsible for which part

Auburn maintains the public water system in rights-of-way and easements up to and including the meter; owners maintain their private pipes from the end of the City service into the property. Section 13.06.027 of the Auburn City Code provides that "The city is responsible for maintenance of the public water system within public rights-of-way and easements up to and including water service meters unless otherwise provided by agreement, by Auburn City Code, or by state law." This is Auburn's own statement.

Auburn
The public water system in public rights-of-way and easements, up to and including the water service meter.
The property owner
The private pipe from the end of the City service. Section 13.06.120 provides that "owners shall maintain their private pipes from the end of the city service to and into their property", and if the City finds it necessary to maintain them, the owner is billed the actual cost.

What decides which applies

The City's part ends at the meter, unless an agreement, the City code or state law provides otherwise. When the City regrades a street or changes a main, it maintains the services from its mains during the work and reconnects them to the owner's pipes. About 80% of Auburn's land is inside the City's water service area as the Washington State Department of Health maps it, and this answer applies only inside that area. Other systems serve the rest under their own rules: Lakehaven Water and Sewer District about 9%, the City of Bonney Lake about 4%, Lake Meridian Water District about 4% and the City of Kent about 3%. Check the name on your water bill.

Sources

Auburn City Code section 13.06.027, Water system responsibility (Ord. 5849

Also quoted:

Checked

What the pipe is made of

Washington publishes no statewide inventory of what service lines are made of. Each water system filed its own with the State, and federal rules require the utility to make it public, so the utility is the place to ask what is recorded for this address.

Auburn: official site

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.
  • This answer applies inside the area the State maps for Auburn's own water system, which does not follow the city limits: some addresses in the city are served by another supplier, and some outside it are served by the city. An address search checks which side an address is on.
  • This authority's service line inventory - the record of which pipes are lead, and where - has not been matched here yet. Ask the utility for yours.
Auburn: official site

Your other pipe: the sewer lateral

For the sewer lateral, Auburn says:

In Auburn the City maintains, repairs and replaces the part of a private side sewer that lies in the public right-of-way, and the owner maintains the side sewer on the property. Section 13.20.040 of the Auburn City Code provides that "the city shall be responsible for the maintenance, operation, repair, and replacement of the public sewer system and the portions of private side sewers located within public rights-of-way."

Your sewer lateral is yours to the property line; your water line stops being yours at the meter.

Same trench, separate authorities, decided separately.

Who pays for the sewer lateral in Auburn, WA

Look up a specific address

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

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