Skip to main content
BelowGrid

Who owns the water service line in Tacoma, 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

Tacoma Water 253-502-8384

When to call: a water leak, a meter issue or an outage, or an emergency turn on/off

Hours, after-hours and sources

Who is responsible for which part

Who to call first

Tacoma Water

When to call: a water leak, a meter issue or an outage, or an emergency turn on/off

253-502-8384

Answered: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

After hours: 253-502-8344

Source 1Source 2

In Tacoma the customer is responsible for all water piping beyond the meter assembly. Section 12.10.020 of the Tacoma Municipal Code defines the service installation as "all piping and fittings from the main to and including the water meter assembly" and provides that "All piping beyond the meter assembly is the customer's responsibility and is not considered a part of the service installation." The code does not say in the same words who repairs the service installation itself. This is Tacoma's own statement.

The property owner
All water piping beyond the meter assembly.

What else is worth knowing

The dividing point is the meter assembly. Service installations are constructed by Tacoma Water. Section 12.10.170 has the Division own, operate and maintain the mains and related appurtenances it has accepted in rights of way, but no section read says in terms who repairs the pipe between the main and the meter, so ask Tacoma Water before paying for work on that length. About 98% of Tacoma'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. Check the name on your water bill.

Sources

Tacoma Municipal Code section 12.10.020, Definitions

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.

Tacoma: 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 Tacoma'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.
Tacoma: official site

Your other pipe: the sewer lateral

For the sewer lateral, Tacoma says:

In Tacoma the property owner is responsible for the whole side sewer, from the building to its connection with the City's sewer, including the part under the street or alley. Section 12.08B.530(C) of the Tacoma Municipal Code provides that "Property owners are solely responsible for the construction, maintenance, operations, repairs, or replacement of the private side sewer and any surface reconstruction requirements when performing said repairs."

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

Same trench, separate authorities, decided separately.

Who pays for the sewer lateral in Tacoma, WA

Look up a specific address

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

Search for an address