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Minimum horizontal distance between water/domestic lateral lines for townhouse project in California

our spec is 300mm horizontal clearance between water and communication cables (150mm vertical clearance when crossing services)
Most councils and service providers will provide this if asked, I say this as i have had some hiccups where the power supplier was upset we didn't put their duct closest tot he boundary (we used council spec instead of power supplier spec!)
 
The minimum distance between water service line (wet trench) and the 2' wide trench (dry trench) (telephone, catv and elec) may vary from a minimum of 12-inches to 5'. You will have to get the answer from your local building official.

https://www.karuk.us/images/JointUtilityTrench.pdf
 
I was saying if you've got a 2 feet wide trench for all that stuff, just make it 1 inch wider and run your water pipe down the side of it.

If its a trench then the utilities will need to all be water proof as it gets wet underground when it rains, so a water pipe, even if it leaks, won't cause any issues.

To me most of these questions are not "code" questions, but simply common sense about access in the future if you need to dig one of them up and repair it or ease of installation.

If you really want two trenches then its all about one trench not collapsing in on the other so say 3 feet?
Thanks for the input. I was informed by the utility company that 3' clearance spacing shall be provided from joint trench to wet utilities. This is from PG&E code. Their inspector would cancel the job if this is not met. I will just move the water service lines to accommodate this. Thanks again for the feedback.
 
T
The minimum distance between water service line (wet trench) and the 2' wide trench (dry trench) (telephone, catv and elec) may vary from a minimum of 12-inches to 5'. You will have to get the answer from your local building official.

https://www.karuk.us/images/JointUtilityTrench.pdf
Thanks for the feedback. I think 3' is mentioned somewhere in the PG&E book.
 
T
our spec is 300mm horizontal clearance between water and communication cables (150mm vertical clearance when crossing services)
Most councils and service providers will provide this if asked, I say this as i have had some hiccups where the power supplier was upset we didn't put their duct closest tot he boundary (we used council spec instead of power supplier spec!)
Thanks for the information !
 
The minimum distance between water service line (wet trench) and the 2' wide trench (dry trench) (telephone, catv and elec) may vary from a minimum of 12-inches to 5'. You will have to get the answer from your local building official.

https://www.karuk.us/images/JointUtilityTrench.pdf
Thanks for the information!
 
Thanks for the input. I was informed by the utility company that 3' clearance spacing shall be provided from joint trench to wet utilities. This is from PG&E code. Their inspector would cancel the job if this is not met. I will just move the water service lines to accommodate this. Thanks again for the feedback.
There you go - Nothing to do with design or logic, but just some rule someone made up decades ago and no one will change it now....
 
There you go - Nothing to do with design or logic, but just some rule someone made up decades ago and no one will change it now....
most likely, probably find that water or power cables interfered with telecom lines, but now that it is all fiber there may be no impact at all. It is like the origins of narrow gauge railway.
Although it may have something to do with having to dig up services for maintenance, spacing them may reduce the risk of damage.

But i dare you to do what you want and try to discuss logic with the powers after it is done!
 

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