Water Service Line Inspections

Inspections

Over the past several months, we randomly inspected about 400 customer and utility-owned water service lines. Prior to conducting these inspections, we notified the property owner through a mailed postcard and a doorhanger. Field crews also door knocked in an attempt to contact the property owner prior to conducting the inspection.  For most service lines inventoried, there was one point of inspection on the utility owned side, and another on the customer owned side of the water meter.   

Utility Water Lines 

We verified the pipe material on the utility side by digging a small hole on the street side of the water meter. This is typically in the City right-of-way near the water meter serving the property. This area contains roads, sidewalks, and above and below-ground utilities, including water system lines and the water meter. After inspection, we restored the area as near as possible to the original condition. The customer did not need to be home for this part of the inspection to occur.   

In some cases, Tacoma Water already knew the material of the utility-owned service line, so we may not have inspected that side of the meter.   

Customer Water Lines 

Depending on the service line location, we verified the pipe material on the customer side in two ways:     

1. By digging a small hole on the property side of the meter, which may be in the yard.   
2. By visually inspecting the pipe where it enters the home (if accessible).   

We contacted the customer to obtain written permission to work on private property, or to enter the home. The inspection generally took less than an hour. If the customer was home, crews attempted to notify them of the results at that time. Customers will receive the official results by mail or email.   

FAQs

What is a water service line?  

Utility-owned service lines, shown below in blue, are the pipes that connect to the larger water main pipes, usually near the street, that bring water to your home or business. These are the service lines we own and maintain.  

You own and maintain the property-side service lines and plumbing, shown in orange.

 

How were the service line locations selected? 

Service line locations were selected for inspection using a statistical method prescribed by EPA and the Washington State Department of Health. Tacoma Water knows the materials of the majority of our utility-owned service lines and many of the customer-owned service lines. Any service lines for which we did not have records of the material on one or both sides became part of the sample pool. Service lines installed after 1986 (year of the federal lead ban) or larger than 2 inches (lead lines were typically smaller) were removed from the sample pool. The service line locations for inspection were randomly selected from the remaining sample pool. 

I received a notice that Tacoma Water will be looking at my water service line, but you never inspected it. Why not? 

There are various reasons that Tacoma Water may not have inspected your service line even though you received a postcard. In some cases, the crew may have skipped the service line because it was not easily accessible for inspection. In other cases, the line may have been located on private property and they could not reach you to obtain permission to dig. Finally, Tacoma Water may have completed the required number of random inspections and did not need to perform additional ones. 

You may contact us if you have questions about the status of the inspection of your service line. 

When did Tacoma Water perform the inspection?  

We completed all inspections by end of August 2024 to meet the EPA requirement.