No water on city supply. Check the utility and your main valve before you pay anyone.
Half of these are the utility's problem or a closed valve, and both are free to find out. A broken service line is the other half and that is a real repair.
What is probably happening
- The utility has a main break or shut the street for work. Neighbors will be out too.
- The main valve got bumped closed, or a meter valve was shut for non-payment or by mistake.
- In freezing weather, the service line or the meter has frozen.
- If the meter is spinning with every tap closed, the service line between the street and the house is broken and leaking underground.
Do this in the next five minutes
- Ask a neighbor, or check the utility's outage page. Call the utility's emergency line.
- Find your main valve (basement entry wall, near the water heater on a slab, the crawl space front wall, or the meter box at the curb) and confirm it is open. Ball valve lever in line with the pipe, gate valve wheel turned counterclockwise.
- Look at the meter. If the dial or low flow indicator is moving with everything off, water is leaving the line underground.
- Look for a wet or sunken patch in the yard between the meter and the house.
- Turn the water heater off if there is no water for more than a few hours, so it does not run dry.
Do not
- Do not open the meter box valve yourself if it is the utility's. Many utilities prohibit it and it can crack.
- Do not pay an emergency call out until you have asked the utility. If the outage is theirs, nobody can fix it at your house.
- Do not run an electric water heater with no water in it.
Who to call
The water utility first, then a licensed plumber
The utility owns the line to the meter. A plumber owns everything from the meter to the house.
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What it should cost
$354 to $1,696, averaging $1,025
Main water line repair between the meter and the house, national range, depending on repair type and digging
Source: Angi, main water line repair cost, updated August 2026. View source
National published range, not a quote for your job. The full cost table for this trade is on the plumbing page.
Ask this contractor, on the phone, before anyone comes out
Tap each one as you ask it.
- How will you locate the break before digging, and is locating in the price?
- Is this a spot repair or a full service line replacement, and why?
- Who calls 811 to mark other utilities before you dig?
- Does the price include backfill and restoring the lawn or driveway?
End the call if
- Digging before 811 has marked the yard.
- A full line replacement quote with no locate and no camera or pressure test.
- A plumber who does not ask whether you checked with the utility.