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Who owns the water service line in Walla Walla, WA

Which part of the pipe is yours

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 Walla Walla about the water service line.

The documents this answer is built on

Who is responsible for which part

Walla Walla's water division installs and maintains the City service line from the main to the City shutoff valve; the owner keeps the customer line on the private property side of the meter in repair. Section 13.04.240 of the Walla Walla Municipal Code provides that "When a permit for a water service has been granted, the city service line will be installed and maintained by the water division and kept within its exclusive control." This is Walla Walla's own statement.

Walla Walla
The service line, which section 13.04.010 defines as "the pipe, valves and fittings laid from the main to, and including, the city shutoff valve".
The property owner
The customer line. Section 13.04.250 provides that "With the exception of the meter assembly, all portions of the customer line on the private property side of the meter must be kept in repair by the owner or occupant of the premises".

What decides which applies

The code puts the City's service line up to the City shutoff valve (the curb cock) and the owner's repair duty on the private property side of the meter; it does not say whether the two always sit together. The owner or occupant is responsible for damage and water lost from breaks in the customer line. About 72% of Walla Walla'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; the Veterans Affairs medical center runs its own system. About 27% of the city has no published water service area over it, which is not a rival utility and not necessarily unserved. Check the name on your water bill.

Sources

Walla Walla Municipal Code section 13.04.240, Service

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.

Walla Walla: 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 Walla Walla'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.
Walla Walla: official site

Your other pipe: the sewer lateral

For the sewer lateral, Walla Walla gives the opposite answer to the one above:

In Walla Walla the property owner is responsible for the whole side sewer, from the building drain to and including its connection with the public sewer. Section 13.03.940(D) of the Walla Walla Municipal Code provides that "All expense and liability for loss or damage for cleaning, repairing and maintenance of a side sewer or a private sewer from the building drain to and including connection with the public sewer shall be the responsibility of the property owner."

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 Walla Walla, WA

Look up a specific address

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

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