01Step one: stop the water
If water is pouring from a pipe, a fitting or a water heater, the first job is to stop it. Fulton County's water services FAQ says the home's main shut-off valve is typically in the basement or garage directly behind an outdoor faucet, or outside below an outdoor faucet. Find it before you need it, and make sure everyone in the house knows where it is. Turning the house valve off stops supply to everything downstream, which is often enough to limit damage while you arrange a repair.
If you cannot find the house valve, the County says you can call Water and Sewer Billing and Collections Customer Service at 404-612-6830 to get your meter location. The meter is the boundary between County pipe and your pipe, so knowing where it is helps in every kind of water emergency, not just this one.
02Step two: work out whose problem it is
Fulton County says it owns the water service line from the main in the street to the meter, and the property owner owns the line from the meter to the building. If water is bubbling up in the street, at the curb or around the meter box, that is usually a County matter. If the leak is between the meter and the house, or inside the house, it is yours to repair, normally with a licensed plumber.
The County's own leak test helps you tell the difference. With no water running anywhere, watch the meter's leak indicator or take two readings an hour or two apart. Then shut the house valve and check again. The County says that if the indicator stops, the leak is inside the house; if it keeps moving, the leak is outside between the meter and the house. Our leak detection guide walks through it.
03Step three: call the right number
Fulton County's Emergency Repairs page lists 770-640-3040 for drinking water emergencies in north Fulton County, north of the Chattahoochee River, and 404-612-3061 for north Fulton sewer emergencies. The Public Works contacts page repeats both and notes that Sandy Springs water comes from the City of Atlanta at 404-658-7220. The County asks callers to be ready with their name, a phone number, the location and a description of the problem.
If you are a Roswell Water Utility customer, the City of Roswell lists 770-641-3707 on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 770-640-4100 for after-hours service through police dispatch. Our Roswell page explains how to tell which utility serves your address.
Need a licensed plumber to look at it?
Free Quote Request04When a plumber is the right call
Anything on your side of the meter, including a split supply line, a burst pipe in a wall, a leaking water heater or a backed-up main drain inside the house, is a job for a plumber. Georgia requires anyone contracting or performing plumbing for hire to hold a state license, as the City of Alpharetta's permitting procedures note under O.C.G.A. 43-14. Our license guide explains the Class I and Class II master plumber classes.
Alpharetta's procedures also say that for night or weekend emergency repairs a subcontractor permit is still required, but the installer must obtain it on the next City business day during normal permit hours. That means an emergency repair can start right away and the permit follows; see plumbing permits.
05Sewage in the house
A sewer backup is a health problem as well as a plumbing one. Fulton County says the owner is responsible for the sewer lateral from the home to the property line, even if the blockage is in the public right-of-way or an easement. Public Works will help remove a blockage in the right-of-way only when there is a serious public health threat, a private plumber hired by the owner is present, and the owner signs a release. Call 404-612-3061 if sewage is overflowing from a manhole or a public line, and a plumber for a clog on your side. More in our sewer backup guide.
06Frozen pipes and digging
If pipes freeze, see the burst and frozen pipe guide. If a repair means digging in the yard, for example to replace the line from the meter to the house, Georgia 811 asks homeowners and professionals to contact 811 before they dig so buried utilities can be marked. A licensed plumber handling an outdoor line repair should make that request.
After any leak, keep the repair invoice. Fulton County requires a copy of a plumber's or contractor's repair bill, or a materials receipt for a do-it-yourself repair, with a leak adjustment request.