Water Main Repair and Replacement in New York City
The water main under your sidewalk is yours. Most people learn this the week it fails, usually from a notice taped to the door, and it is an unwelcome piece of news about property you didn’t know you owned.
The city owns the main in the street. You own the service line running from the tap at that main, under the sidewalk, into your building. When it breaks, the repair, the permit, the excavation and the sidewalk all belong to you.
How they tell you they’re failing
Water mains rarely go all at once. They announce it first — low pressure on the top floor, a puddle at the curb that doesn’t dry after two days without rain, cloudy water with sediment, a hissing under the sidewalk you only hear at night. Or a water bill that has quietly become a car payment.
Repair or replacement
Not every failure needs a new line. A break four feet in under the curb is a sectional repair: expose the defective length, replace it, pressure test, restore the surface. A copper service line leaking in three places is a replacement, and pretending otherwise spends your money twice.
We can’t tell you which before we see it. Anyone who quotes a water main over the phone has not seen your water main.
How the work actually goes
Camera inspection and leak diagnostics where access allows. Permits, then the utility mark-out — four utilities come out and spray-paint the street in four colors, which looks like vandalism and is the law. Targeted excavation over the defective section only. Copper service line, no-lead brass fittings, NYC-approved throughout. Pressure test and flow verification. Backfill, then the sidewalk goes back.
Every step answers to DEP, and where we open the street, to DOT.
When it’s an emergency
Active surface flooding, an underground rupture, or no water entering the building at all. Call (718) 965-3500. A person answers, including at 3am, which is when they break.
Service You Can Trust
