The smallest survey project in my career

Was that a large enough area for repair/replacement or was some type of maintenance easement included ? 

@gary_g 

Yes.  It was the size recommended by thw rural water district.  They already held a blanket easement on all 80 acres.  What they needed was the change in ownership of the meter location.  The alternative would have been to move the meter to be on the ex-wife's land.  The RWD would not agree to that because they would inherit the small service line for nearly a half mile.  That line was smaller than their minimum line size and may or may not have been installed to their standards.

WOW !

I should think that a water service line easement between the private parties would be sufficient. But the RWD had a "policy". It seems that stupid regulations are not restricted to the big cities.

Most RWD policies and procedures followed a template provided by a USDA--Farmers Home Administration representative working with each district being formed.  I have been told that this representative could cite cases where a failure to incorporate a policy being questioned led to very uncomfortable circumstances.  The local people serving on RWD boards were faced with attempting to control friends and neighbors for the betterment of the entire qroup.  The first RWD board on which I served had nine board members and around 750 benefit users.  A high percentage of users had been connected since the time the district came into existence.  I would guess the nine board members were on a first name basis with 60 to 75 percent of the users.  The second RWD board on which I served was organized identically with virtually identical policies and procedures.  This smaller district of about 500 users was even more stable.  It was rare that a user name came up at a monthly meeting that no one knew that person.  In both cases, the board was formed with two reprentatives from each of four geographic areas plus one at large representative. A typical case of an unknown name would lead to something like: You know the old Maxwell place a couple miles west of Odense.  Well, this is a cousin of Mr. Maxwell who married Jack Jarboe's granddaughter and works at Monarch.