Key takeaways
- Kitsap has four city utilities, three major water districts, dozens of Kitsap PUD systems, tribal utilities, many small community systems and thousands of private wells.
- On every one of them, the utility's responsibility ends at the meter and the private line is the owner's.
- Knowing your utility tells you where the meter is, how to read it, and who to ask about a bill adjustment.
- On community systems and shared lines, recorded agreements govern responsibility; find them before a dispute.
City utilities
The City of Bremerton serves Bremerton, East Bremerton, Enetai and some adjacent areas from the Union River watershed and Casad Dam plus deep wells. The City of Port Orchard serves the city proper. The City of Poulsbo serves inside its limits. The City of Bainbridge Island serves the Winslow area. Each has its own meters, its own billing, and its own leak-adjustment policy.
Water districts
Silverdale Water District serves the core of Silverdale and much of Central Kitsap including parts of Tracyton. West Sound Utility District serves East Port Orchard, Annapolis and Retsil, having absorbed the former Annapolis and Karcher Creek systems. Manchester Water District serves Manchester and surroundings. Districts are independent public utilities with elected commissioners and their own rules.
Kitsap PUD
Kitsap Public Utility District operates dozens of water systems across the county, especially in North Kitsap: Kingston, Hansville, Indianola, several Bainbridge Island systems, Suquamish in part, and systems scattered from Lofall to Olalla. If you're outside a city and not on a district or a well, you're likely on a PUD system.
Tribal utilities
The Suquamish Tribe operates utilities within parts of the Port Madison Indian Reservation, and the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe serves its reservation near Port Gamble. Which utility serves a particular parcel in Suquamish depends on the parcel.
Community systems and wells
Bainbridge Island outside Winslow, Indianola, Rolling Bay, Hansville's beach communities, Keyport's village, and rural parcels everywhere are often on small community systems: a shared well or source, a shared main, and individual services, governed by the system's own bylaws and recorded easements. And thousands of homes in Olalla, Seabeck, Lofall, Hansville, Bainbridge and elsewhere are on private wells with no utility at all.
Where responsibility ends
In every case with a utility, the utility owns and maintains the main, the tap, the service to the meter, the meter box and the meter. The property owner owns the line from the meter to the house. On a community system, the system's documents say where the shared main ends and the private service begins; it's usually at a meter or a shutoff. On a well, it's all the owner's. The practical consequence: a leak after the meter is yours to find and fix, and a locate that pinpoints it is the start of every conversation about it.
Written by the crew at 360 Leak Finders
We locate, excavate and repair buried water lines and exterior drains across Kitsap County, 24 hours a day. If this guide raised a question about your property, call (206) 354-9906.