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Who owns the water service line in Kent, WA

Which part of the pipe is yours

  • Water service line

    Yours from the meter to your building

    Why, and what to do
  • Sewer lateral

    Yours all the way to the main, including the fitting where it joins — unless Soos Creek Water and Sewer District or Midway Sewer District is your sewer provider

    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 Kent about the water service line.

The documents this answer is built on

Who is responsible for which part

Kent owns the water system from the main up to and including the meter; the pipes from the meter to the building are the owner's. Section 7.02.040 of the Kent City Code provides that "All pipes and connections from the water meter to the premises or building served by the city water are the property and the sole responsibility of the owner or lessee of the premises or building." This is Kent's own statement.

Kent
Title to the service up to and including the meter. Section 7.02.040 makes the equipment "located upon private property from a water main of the water system to and including the water meter" City property, "subject to the exclusive control and regulations of the city". The code does not say in the same words that the City repairs the service pipe; section 7.02.120 provides that the stop cocks and their connections "shall be maintained by and under the control of the water utility."
The property owner
All pipes and connections from the water meter to the building.

What else is worth knowing

The dividing point is the meter. Section 7.02.160 adds that pipes from the City's adapter or coupling on or near the property line or near the meter box are put in at the owner's expense, and the owner is responsible for damage from leaks and breaks. About 60% of Kent'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: Soos Creek Water and Sewer District about 18%, Lake Meridian Water District about 14%, Highline Water District about 6% and Covington Water District about 3%. Check the name on your water bill.

Sources

Kent City Code section 7.02.040, Maintenance of water system (Ord. No. 4288

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.

Kent: 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 Kent'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.
Kent: official site

Your other pipe: the sewer lateral

For the sewer lateral, Kent says:

In Kent the owner is responsible for the whole side sewer, including the part in the City's right-of-way and the tee and side stub on the public sewer. Section 7.04.040(B) of the Kent City Code makes the owner, and any later owner, "responsible for all costs of maintenance, repair, removal of obstructions, cleaning, and operation of the side sewer, including that portion of the side sewer extending into the city's right-of-way and connecting to the public sanitary sewer, including without limitation the tee and side stub thereto."

Your sewer lateral is yours to the main, fitting included; your water line stops being yours at the meter.

Same trench, separate authorities, decided separately.

Who pays for the sewer lateral in Kent, WA

Look up a specific address

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

Search for an address