Your Home's Plumbing

The water service lateral is the pipe that runs underground from the meter or valve near the street to the main water valve inside the house. Typically, it is made of copper, plastic, or sections of both. These components are owned by the property owner.

Water meters and their settings are owned and maintained by Spotsylvania County Utilities Department. Usually, meters are located near the edge of the property in a small barrel that is placed in the ground and covered by a cast-iron lid or heavy-duty plastic lid. It is helpful to keep plants, shrubs, and trees trimmed away from the County’s meters and registers to allow us to read and maintain them.  It is also recommended that you do not run over the meter barrel and lid with the lawnmower because this can damage the barrel, lid, meter, and settings.

Your private sanitary sewer lateral is an underground pipe that is part of your home’s plumbing. Your sanitary sewer lateral conveys wastewater from your home to Spotsylvania County’s public sanitary sewer system.   

If you own your home, you also own your lateral from the end of your home’s internal plumbing to the connection with Spotsylvania County Utilities. Your sewer lateral is your property from your home’s plumbing to the connection with Spotsylvania County Utilities’ sewer main. You are responsible for maintaining your lateral, just like other pipes in your home.

Many homes have sewer lateral cleanouts. A cleanout is a vertical pipe from an underground lateral to the surface. It has a removable cap for maintenance access. Know where your sewer cleanouts are in case you or your plumber needs quick access to stop a mess and costly sewage backups into your home. If your home doesn’t have a cleanout, you may want to add one at your property line.

Maintaining your sewer lateral helps protect your home and our environment. Broken sewer laterals and missing/broken cleanout caps can allow tree roots and debris into the pipe, which may cause blockages, building backups, or overflows in the environment. Leaking pipes can also allow wastewater to reach groundwater, which may contribute to water pollution.

Learn more:  Tips for Maintaining Your Sanitary Sewer Lateral

This diagram represents a typical house.  However, pipe layouts may differ.