Water and Sewer Location

Location : 8270 Old Montgomery Rd. Hours : Mon-Fri, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Phone : 410-313-4982 Fax : 410-313-4989 Email : location office After Hours Emergencies : 410-313-4900

As a member of Maryland's "One Call Concept" system ( or "Miss Utility" ) Howard County has a small team of employees, including three full-time locators, to handle the more than 100 daily locate requests that are received by the County to locate and mark public water and sewer lines.

( Blue paint = Water lines  -  Green paint = Sewer lines )

Please call "Miss Utility" at 1-800-257-7777, at least 48 hours prior to work, to have all utilities located. ( BGE, Verizon, Comcast, etc. )

See below for corresponding marking color codes for all utilities.

Note to Homeowners :

Anything beyond that point and your house, including your sewer cleanout, is considered your private water and sewer lines and are your responsibility to maintain and have located, if needed.

However, some things to keep in mind :

( Though we do not recommend planting trees with deep root systems over your sewer line. A potential sewer blockage issue in the future. )

Also, as an example, if a plumber was to repair your outside water service, they would look for two points of reference to determine how your water line runs on your property :

• the location of your water meter ( or ball valve )
  at your property line.
  
• the point at which your water comes into your house.

Between those two points they would have a general idea of how the water runs on your property. It's usually a 'straight shot' between those two points, but that's the type of knowledge, about your private water and sewer lines, for which the County has no specific information.

Howard County is legally obligated to locate / mark our public water and sewer utilities only when an excavator is digging within 5 feet of our utilities.

However, we realize that ball valve box lids and sewer cleanouts sometimes get buried, or you just can't determine where they're located. If you would need these items located, to assist you in determining how your private water and sewer lines run on your property, please give us a call at 410-313-4982. We will be happy to send a locator out to your home with any location information and a metal detector, to locate these two items. This will show the area at which water and sewer come onto your property.

In Howard County, the water meter ( or ball valve ) is the County's responsibility to maintain, whereas the sewer cleanout is the homeowner's responsibility to maintain.

An illustration of where the County's responsibility ends and the homeowner's responsibility begins for your sewer service.

Getting responses from your Miss Utility ticket :

If you have called in a ticket, you can now check the "status" of your ticket, indicating the various utilities that have been "marked" or "cleared" for your job, at Miss Utility's website.

You can also call the toll-free Miss Utility Ticket Check® system to get the "status" of your ticket.

• Miss Utility Ticket Check® - 1-866-821-4226.

Please have your ticket number available. You will be prompted for an "ID Code". That will be the callback phone number you provided when you called in the ticket.

Please allow 48 hours for your ticket to be processed.

Each Utility ( BGE, Verizon, etc. ) will provide a "Response Code" :

• Code 1: Clear/No conflict.
• Code 2: Marked.
• Code 3: 24- hour delay.
• Code 4: 48- hour delay.
• Code 5: Not complete/In progress: Have spoken with the excavator.
• Code 9: Marked up to privately owned utility.
• Code 10: Incorrect address information.

• Download the above color chart. Suitable for printing.
  ( 6.5 X 5 inches ) - PDF file - 24 kb