Does putting eyeliner on your waterline make you blind

(Image credit: George Clerk)

Look! Another neighbor has a busted sewer or water line between his house and the street, evidenced by the grind and dig of backhoes tearing up his front lawn.

Until we’re jolted to take notice, most of us forget that the water that flows through our homes and the wastewater that flows out spends time in the area between the street and the front of the house.

If something goes wrong with those subterranean pipe systems, the homeowner, not the utility, is responsible. And unlike with leaks inside your home, your homeowners insurance won’t cover the expensive – on average, $2,500 per incident – repairs to water or sewer lines, plus the ensuing landscaping refresh, according to Myles Meehan, senior vice president of public relations at HomeServe USA, a service plan provider.

That means you’re on the hook to hire one contractor to fix the pipe and another to fix the landscaping disturbed by the Big Dig.