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Street to Drainfield
The lot

Street to back fence

  1. 1 Meter or well house
  2. 2 House and crawlspace
  3. 3 Water heater AI picture
  4. 4 Septic tank lids
  5. 5 Drainfield and yard

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Where the water comes in: meter box or well house

On city water in Olympia, Lacey or Tumwater, water arrives through a meter in a box near the street; on a rural lot it comes from a well, often with a small well house over the pump and pressure tank. This first stop covers both sides: whose pipe is whose, testing a well, and finding leaks.

A rectangular cast-iron water meter cover marked WATER DEPT, set in a concrete sidewalk
A rectangular cast-iron water meter cover marked WATER DEPT, set in a concrete sidewalkLook for: a concrete or cast-iron lid at the street edge, or a small shed by the well head with a pressure tank inside.

On city water, the meter and the pipe on the street side belong to the city, and only city staff turn the valve in the meter box; your own valve sits on the house side. Start with who owns which pipe and the meter leak check. On a well, the water is yours to test: Washington's Department of Health suggests coliform and nitrate tests every year, explained on the well testing page, and a shared well serving several houses may be a Group B system with county rules of its own.

Pages at this stop

On toward the back fence: stop 2House and crawlspace