Water Repair

Visit our water outage map and find out how you can prepare for a planned water outage.

Water flows into town through large transmission pipelines and enters a grid of some 1600 miles of distribution water mains, buried below city streets bringing water from our protected watersheds to you.

Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) performs projects to maintain, rehabilitate, and replace its water system infrastructure. This work includes:

  • Water Main Rehabilitation: SPU invests in construction projects to rehabilitate and replace water mains throughout the city.
  • Cathodic Protection: SPU installs cathodic protection systems in the ground to prevent pipe corrosion and preserve the integrity and extend the life of its water transmission pipelines.
  • Water System Facility Upgrades: SPU rehabilitates, upgrades and replaces aging pump stations, storage tanks and reservoirs as their components reach the end of life or need to be brought up to new seismic standards.
  • Maintenance Work: SPU Water Crews respond to emergencies and perform ongoing maintenance of our water system.

SPU also partners with Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and other City departments and agencies to rehabilitate water mains as part of their construction projects, which reduces costs and minimizes construction impacts to the community.

SPU is continuing to make upgrades to our system - from tanks, to reservoirs, to our protected watersheds - to provide high-quality, reliable services to our customers. Learn more about SPU's current and completed projects.

 An aerial view of a large grassy, tree-lined park with a large square dirt area under construction.

Aerial view of the West Seattle Reservoir under construction in Westcrest Park.

What to Expect During Construction

SPU performs necessary repairs and upgrades to our systems and facilities, we know that this work is impactful to community. SPU project teams work hard to identify ways to minimize these construction impacts.

To achieve this, our project teams share project updates to inform residents and businesses about the work and engage directly with community to identify mitigations when construction impacts are expected to be particularly disruptive.

As with most construction, utility projects may result in:

  • Increased noise, dirt, dust, and/or vibrations
  • Construction traffic and staging of large equipment in the area
  • Lane or road closures with possible detours
  • Parking restrictions in or near the work area
  • Some construction projects may require temporary service disruptions

Whether it is SPU crews performing maintenance or a contractor doing construction, safety is a top priority. We ask that you please respect on-site signage. remain a safe distance from the construction site, and follow construction safety best practices.

Public Utilities

Andrew Lee, General Manager and CEO
Address: 700 5th Avenue, Suite 4900, Seattle, WA, 98104
Mailing Address: PO Box 34018, Seattle, WA, 98124-5177
Phone: (206) 684-3000
SPUCustomerService@seattle.gov

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Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is comprised of three major direct-service providing utilities: the Water Utility, the Drainage and Wastewater Utility, and the Solid Waste Utility.