Denver Neighborhood Sewer and Water Line Guides

How Sewer and Water Work Is Handled Anywhere in Denver

• Who owns what. Inside the City and County of Denver, the public sewer mains belong to the city. The building sewer, or lateral, from the house out to the main is the property owner's responsibility. On the water side, Denver Water owns the main. The customer owns the service line from the tap into the house, plus the meter pit and meter setting.
• Permits. Private sewer work that touches the connection is permitted through Denver's Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. The licensed contractor schedules the inspection, and the contractor is responsible for any damage to the public main. Denver requires building sewers to be at least 4 inches and does not allow HDPE for them.
• Cutoffs before demolition. Denver requires the old sewer to be cut off at the main before a demolition, and when shoring, excavation, or new construction comes within 10 feet of the property line or the public main. Scrape and rebuild lots almost always trigger this.
• Lead service lines. Denver Water's Lead Reduction Program replaces customer-owned lead service lines with copper at no direct cost to the owner. Homes built before 1951 are the most likely to have one. Check your address with Denver Water before paying anyone, including us, to replace a water service line.
• Street trees and parkways. Removing or working around a tree in the right of way needs a Denver Forestry permit, and roots can only be cut when it is unavoidable, with the City Forester notified first. Denver has 35 designated parkways and boulevards with their own setback rules. On tree-lined blocks, boring and hand or vacuum excavation are often the better method.
• Historic districts. Exterior alterations in a designated Denver landmark district need a Certificate of Appropriateness. The buried pipe itself is rarely the issue. Restoring historic flagstone walks, retaining walls, and other visible features can be, so we check district status before we dig.
• Pipe by era. Clay tile is common in laterals from the 1880s into the 1970s. Orangeburg fiber pipe shows up in homes built roughly 1945 to the early 1970s. PVC is standard from the late 1970s on. These are patterns, not guarantees. A camera inspection is the only way to know what is under your yard.

For how this applies citywide, see sewer and water line services in Denver. If you were looking for the municipal utility rather than a contractor, read are you Denver Water.