Signs Your Municipal Water System Needs Attention
Municipal water systems rarely fail without warning.
If you're managing a city, water district, or wastewater facility, watch for:
- Pumps running constantly without building or maintaining pressure
- Unexplained drops in water pressure across the distribution system
- Wet spots, pooling, or odors near pump stations or lift stations
- Alarms or fault codes or alarms at a pump station with no clear cause
- Sewage backup or overflows - this is an emergency; call immediately!
- Lift station floats or controls behaving erratically
- Increased electricity costs without a change in output
- Equipment that's overdue for inspection or hasn't been tested in years
Most municipal water calls we receive fall into two categories: something failed without warning, or someone saw the signs and waited too long.
Either way, we're the call you make when it has to get fixed right. And when raw sewage is involved - don't overthink it. Call us first.
What Our Municipal Water Services Include
Our municipal water services cover domestic water delivery, wastewater and lift stations, irrigation districts, and infrastructure-level consulting. Here's what we do:
Emergency Troubleshooting and Repair
When a pump station goes down or a lift station alarms, the clock starts immediately. For emergency municipal water services, we answer 24 hours a day, 365 days a year - and when you call, a live person answers. We troubleshoot the system, identify the failure, and repair or replace what's broken.
For municipal clients, we understand that getting back online isn't just a convenience - it's a public health obligation. We treat it that way.
Domestic Water Supply Systems
City water districts and irrigation districts depend on pump systems to move drinking water from the source to the glass.
We handle service, repair, and replacement across all types of domestic municipal water pump stations - from single-station districts to complex multi-station systems serving thousands of connections.
We inspect, test, flow-test, and when needed, design full system upgrades with written recommendations your board or city council can act on.
Wastewater and Lift Stations
Not every building can gravity-feed into a wastewater treatment plant. When a structure or development sits below the sewer main, waste has to be pumped uphill - that's a lift station. We install, service, repair, and replace lift stations for municipalities, water districts, and multi-unit properties throughout Washington.
When a lift station fails, it doesn't just inconvenience people. It creates a public health emergency, a regulatory violation, and - in serious cases - personal legal liability for the leadership responsible for that system.
Fines are real.
Criminal penalties for discharge violations are real.
We've seen the county warning signs posted on facilities that waited too long.
When the Town of Ronald called us because their system was close to overflowing, we were there first thing Monday morning. That's what 24/7 actually means.
Municipal Irrigation Systems
Cities, parks departments, and irrigation districts across the region depend on pump systems to move water for public spaces and agricultural delivery.
Irrigation districts are quasi-governmental organizations with specific regulatory requirements, and they need contractors who understand how to operate within that structure. We do. We've been doing it for nearly a century.
Inspection, Reporting, and Consulting
Most pump companies can fix a broken pump. Fewer can produce the documentation a municipality needs to make a real capital decision.
We assess systems, produce detailed inspection reports, and deliver written recommendations that stand up to board review, state oversight, and insurance audits.
Our work on a large Shelton, WA, homeowners association - seven pump stations, thousands of residential connections - produced a 94-page report that gave their leadership a complete picture of every system they were responsible for.
If you need to know what you have before you commit to spending money, this is where we start.
Municipal Water Services | What Makes This Work Different
Municipal water work is not residential work at scale. The systems are more complex, the stakes are measured in thousands of people instead of one family, and the regulatory and legal exposure is categorically different.
"It's not like a residential call. If there's sewage running down the street, nobody asks for a written proposal. Nobody. They just need it fixed."
- Doug Picatti, Picatti Brothers President
A pump failure at a private home affects one household. A pump station failure can cut water to thousands of connections. A lift station overflow can trigger state enforcement, media attention, and personal liability for the officials responsible for that system. That weight changes everything about how the work is approached - crew size, safety protocols, documentation, speed.
Municipal water jobs typically require a 2-3 person crew over multiple days. The equipment is bigger, the electrical systems are more complex, the safety requirements are more stringent, and the reporting requirements are real.
The difference between a residential service call and a municipal water job is roughly the difference between troubleshooting a golf cart and troubleshooting a semi-truck.
That's why having licensed electrical engineers on staff isn't optional for this work. It's a requirement - and most pump companies don't have them.
Our Electrical Engineering Advantage
Most pump companies don't have engineers. Picatti Brothers does.
Municipal water systems are electrical systems. They're managed by control panels, variable speed drives, SCADA interfaces, and increasingly, computer-based automation that monitors pressure, flow, and pump status across multiple stations simultaneously.
Understanding those systems - not just the pump at the bottom of the well, but the entire electrical and control architecture - is what allows us to solve problems other companies can't.
Doug and Mike Picatti hold an electrical engineering degree from Washington State University. They worked at General Electric, Honeywell, and Boeing before joining the family business.
That combination of formal engineering training, hands-on field experience, and nearly 100 years of institutional knowledge is what you get when Picatti Brothers shows up on a municipal water job.
Who We Serve
Our municipal water services are built for public agencies, water utilities, and the leadership responsible for community water systems.
Public works departments and water districts call us when their systems need service, repair, or replacement - whether it's a planned upgrade or an emergency that can't wait. We navigate bid processes when required and work under emergency authorization when the situation demands it.
Wastewater and sewer districts face some of the highest-stakes failures in public infrastructure. When a lift station alarms or a pump station fails, the consequences are immediate and visible. We know the regulatory environment, we know the liability exposure, and we respond accordingly.
Irrigation districts are a unique entity - quasi-governmental, often serving both agricultural and municipal customers, with specific compliance requirements. We've worked alongside irrigation districts throughout Central Washington for generations.
Homeowners associations with private water systems often have the infrastructure of a small municipality with none of the in-house expertise. We serve these clients regularly, including large HOA water systems with multiple pump stations and hundreds of connections.
State and federal facilities have their own requirements and protocols. We have experience working within those frameworks, including on tribal reservations where our Washington State license applies.
For non-emergency work, we work through whatever bid or procurement process your agency requires. For emergencies, you call your pre-approved contractors. Getting on those lists - and staying on them - is part of what we've done for decades.
Why Choose Picatti Brothers for Municipal Water Services
There are other pump companies in Washington. Here's what separates Picatti Brothers:
- We answer the phone. That sounds simple. It isn't. A substantial number of our municipal water calls start the same way: "I tried to reach another contractor, and nobody picked up."
We answer every call, 24 hours a day, with a live person. If we can't be there immediately, we’ll tell you exactly where you stand, and we'll follow up. In a crisis, that reliability is worth more than any other credential. - We produce real documentation. Many public agencies are legally required to maintain inspection records and demonstrate due diligence on their infrastructure. We can produce the reports that satisfy those requirements - not a one-page field note, but a real engineering-level assessment that can go in front of a board, a state inspector, or an insurance auditor.
- We handle prevailing wage compliance. Municipal water jobs frequently require prevailing wage reporting, and getting it wrong carries serious penalties. We've been navigating this correctly for years. If your agency requires it, we're already set up for it.
Nearly 100 years of experience. Picatti Brothers has been doing this since 1928.
In many cases, we've already worked on the infrastructure you're calling about. We've pulled pumps from stations that were installed by companies that no longer exist.
That history is not a marketing line - it's institutional knowledge that can't be manufactured.
Frequently Asked Questions About Municipal Water Services
It depends on the situation and your agency's procurement thresholds.
For planned capital projects above your agency's bid threshold, a formal solicitation is typically required. For emergency repairs - a sewage overflow, a pump failure cutting off water delivery - emergency authorization usually bypasses that process.
We work within whatever framework your agency requires, and we've been through both many times.