If you notice water coming from under the street pavement, leaking from a fire hydrant or collecting around a water meter, there could be a leak from a water main or service line.

To report a suspected problem, call 311 or 704-336-7600 - 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

You may also notice a problem if your water bill is unusually high, or utility readers may detect a leak while reading your meter. Utilities is responsible for maintaining the pipe leading to your home or business's meter, and the meter itself. The property owner is responsible for the service pipe behind the meter and the rest of the property's plumbing.

When you report the problem, please provide as much description as possible about the situation. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities will dispatch a service technician to evaluate the problem as soon as possible. If a leak exists on a public water pipe, then a work order will be created and a crew dispatched.

All leaks are a priority, but Utilities crews maintain more than 8,000-miles water and wastewater pipe and the timing of maintenance is based largely on workload.

Leaks posing a potential threat to health and safety are classified as emergencies and always receive immediate attention. Other leaks are repaired based on severity - amount of water loss, the potential for pavement or property damage, etc. Depending on workload, the response time can sometimes be a little longer for the smallest leaks.

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work day in, day out to address water leaks, to continue enhancing our response time and to keep clean, high-quality water on its path to your home or business.