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Who owns the water service line in Renton, WA

Which part of the pipe is yours

your buildingproperty linesidewalkstreetmain
The thick length is yours.

If something’s wrong

Who to call first about the water service line

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

The documents this answer is built on

Who is responsible for which part

In Renton the service connection and meter are the City's, and the owner keeps the service pipes on the private premises in repair. Section 8-4-28 of the Renton Municipal Code provides that "All service connections and meters, unless otherwise authorized by the Administrator of Planning/Building/Public Works, shall be and remain the property of the City". The code does not say in the same words that the City repairs the service connection. This is Renton's own statement.

Renton
Title to the service connection and meter. Section 8-4-7 provides that "The connection between the City's pipes at the property line and the service pipes on the premises must be made with a union."
The property owner
The service pipes, connections and other apparatus within the private premises. Section 8-4-22 provides that they "must be kept in good repair and protected from freezing at the expense of the owner or lessee, who will be responsible for all damages resulting from leaks and breaks."

What else is worth knowing

The dividing point is the union at the property line between the City's pipes and the service pipes on the premises. If the owner neglects a repair, the Utilities Engineer may have it made and charge it to the premises and the owner. About 68% of Renton'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 17%, King County Water District No. 90 about 8%, Coal Creek Utility District about 3% and Cedar River Water and Sewer District about 3%. Check the name on your water bill.

Sources

Renton Municipal Code section 8-4-28

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.

Renton: 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 Renton'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.
Renton: official site

Your other pipe: the sewer lateral

The sewer lateral leaving your property is a separate pipe, run by a separate authority, and who is responsible for it is decided separately. In many places the two answers are opposites.

Sewer lateral requirements in Renton, WA

Look up a specific address

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

Search for an address