Utility Plan Review

PWD’s Utility Plan review looks for utility conflicts, ROW conflicts, connection location and size, and other potential issues.

In accordance with the City of Philadelphia Administrative Code, Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) approval is required to confirm water and sewer availability.

PWD’s Utility Plan review looks for water and sewer availability, utility conflicts, ROW conflicts, connection location and size, and other potential issues.

Projects that meet any of the criteria below require Utility Plan Approval:

  • Projects that need a L&I Building Permit for New Construction
  • Projects that need a L&I Site Permit that includes a foundation activity
  • Projects that are proposing new water or sewer connections to PWD infrastructure, including changes in service size
  • Projects that are proposing impacts to PWD infrastructure and/or an encroachment into PWD’s Right-of-Way (ROW)

Please note: the criteria above are not all-encompassing. There may be other circumstances where a submission to Utility Plan Review is recommended to resolve a conflict or concern related to PWD infrastructure. For those cases, PWD will provide clear instructions to the applicant.

Submitting Utility Plans for Review

To initiate the Utility Plan Review, submit using the Project Dashboard. The submitted Utility Plan must meet the criteria identified in the following guidance materials:

  • Utility Plan Checklist
  • PWD Water Meter Installation Standard
  • PWD Water Service Line Sizing Model
    For the Model, Tab 1 – Demand Worksheet, Tab 2 – Meter Size Worksheet (verifies that the proposed meter size accurately measures peak flows according to PWD Regulations), and Tab 3 – Pressure Worksheet (verifies that the pressure available at the furthest fixture meets the minimum pressure required according to the Philadelphia Plumbing Code) must be completed in their entirety.

The Applicant is instructed to use the most recent version of the above guidance materials when submitting for review. Any updates to these materials will be posted online. Guidance materials were last updated on 2/2/22.

For additional assistance in creating a Utility Plan, please refer to the Sample Utility Plan. Each item in the Utility Plan Checklist corresponds to a highlighted numeric callout on the Sample Utility Plan, which provides the applicant with a visual example of the required checklist element.

Please refer to the UPR Commonly Missing Checklist Elements to ensure your plan is ready for review prior to submission.

Private Infrastructure

Applicants proposing private water, sanitary sewer, and storm sewer infrastructure within a Planned Community (PC) or Condominium must comply with the Philadelphia Plumbing Code.  The City of Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections is responsible for the enforcement of the Plumbing Code and should be contacted with any questions related to the code requirements.

All private infrastructure must be clearly shown and labeled on the Utility Plan for Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) review.

As of 9/1/2023, all Utility Plan Approvals are valid for three (3) years.

This extension will apply retroactively to all projects. Thus, a plan that was approved 6/1/2021 is now valid until 6/1/2024, regardless of the expiration date on the stamp. 

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