Sewer and water lines · California, Oregon, Texas, Washington

Who has to fix the pipe under your property?

See which part of the sewer lateral and the water service line is yours, and what the local rules require when you sell or repair — each answer quoted from its official source.

TryBerkeley, CA

No account needed
Official sources linked
Not a physical inspection

The two pipes under a property

Sewer lateral: Carries wastewater from the building to the public sewer. Which length is yours to repair differs from city to city, and some cities require it inspected when a home is sold.
Water service line: Brings water from the main to the building. The water supplier's rules usually say where its part ends and yours begins, which decides who fixes a leak on each side.

What you get for an address

Who is responsible for each pipe
Which length of the sewer lateral and the water service line is yours, and which is the city's or the utility's.
Sewer lateral answers for 367 places · water service line answers for 285 places
What's required when you sell or repair
Inspections, certificates and permits the local rules call for, in the rule's own words.
Local rules on file for 370 places
Money that may help
Grants, loans and rebates for a repair, with who can apply.
23 assistance programmes on file
The official source for every answer
Each answer quotes the authority and links to its document, so you can check it or show it to a contractor.

Good to know: BelowGrid reports what cities, counties, districts and utilities publish. It does not inspect pipes or rate properties, and it does not hold inspection or permit records for individual addresses. Little published data about an address is not the same as no problems. Septic systems and heating-oil tanks are not covered yet. How answers are checked

How it works

1
Enter one address
No account, no sign-up. If more than one address matches, you choose which one.
2
BelowGrid finds the authorities
Which city, county and sewer provider actually govern the property, matched by boundary rather than by postal city.
3
You see the evidence and the gaps
Every finding links to the official source it came from, and anything that could not be determined is stated plainly.

Answers no single authority publishes

Each authority describes only itself. These compare them, which is the part a homeowner cannot do from any single official page.

Ownership
Who owns the pipe under the road
“Your sewer lateral is your responsibility” is the usual answer and it is wrong in some California cities, where the authority maintains the run to the sewer main — the expensive half.
Assistance
Who helps pay for the repair
Grants, loans and rebates side by side — including which ones refuse anybody who is selling, which is the event most likely to have brought you here.
Local rules
How neighbouring cities differ
A certificate issued under one city’s scheme is not the document the next city asks for, and the deadlines are not the same either.
Two pipes
Why your two pipes disagree
The sewer lateral and the water service line leave the same building and answer to different authorities — who usually contradict each other about the run beneath the road.
Water lines
Which water systems know what is buried
Federal rules made every system inventory its service lines. Most of what is still unknown sits with a few utilities — and most of what is known was worked out from paperwork, building dates or a computer model, not by anyone digging down to look.

Coverage at a glance

Live today in California, Oregon, Texas, Washington.

Cities where BelowGrid names the governing authorities; how much is answered varies by city.

One square per state; a shaded state is live. More states are being added.

Search and filter every covered place

Places with an answer today

Each place's page says who is responsible for which length of the sewer lateral, quotes a reviewed local requirement, or both. Places marked * have a reviewed local requirement.

Search and filter on the coverage page