Inside the City of Alexandria, Virginia American Water supplies the water, and the service line to your house may be partly the utility's and partly yours. When the customer side leaks or keeps losing pressure, a plumber can find the break and repair or replace it. Call the number on this page to be connected with a local plumber in Alexandria.
Alexandria's water line picture
Virginia American Water serves the city as a consecutive system, buying treated water from Fairfax Water's Potomac River and Occoquan Reservoir plants. It describes the service line as running from the main to the home, partly utility-owned and partly customer-owned, with homeowners responsible for the plumbing inside. Many homes with an Alexandria mailing address in ZIPs such as 22306 through 22312 and 22315 are actually in unincorporated Fairfax County and are generally served by Fairfax Water instead, so check your bill before calling anyone.
Age matters here. Old Town has an 18th-century core and close-in neighborhoods such as Del Ray and Rosemont are older still than the city's median home, built around 1974. Virginia American Water publishes an interactive service line material map, lets customers with an unknown line submit their address and a pipe photo, and says it will remove lead and lead or galvanized lines over time. Looking up your address on that map is worth doing before you decide how much pipe to replace.
Inside city limits, the Department of Code Administration's Permit Center handles construction permits; Alexandria-addressed homes in Fairfax County go to Fairfax County instead.
Repair or replace
| What you're seeing | Repair a section | Replace the line |
|---|---|---|
| A single leak on otherwise solid copper | Usually enough | Rarely needed |
| Galvanized or unknown material in an older house | A short-term fix | Often the better plan |
| Repeat leaks along the same run | Buys a little time | Worth pricing |
| Low pressure that a clean aerator didn't help | Seldom solves it | Likely the cure |
Signs to look for
- Damp brick or a water stain on the front basement wall
- A soft spot in the yard or between pavers on the line's path
- The meter moving with every tap shut
- Rusty or cloudy water right after the house sits unused
Timing and seasons
Winter is the hard season for older lines: freezing nights can split a pipe near the foundation, and frost heave stresses joints in shallow runs. Spring brings its own confusion, because water may taste of chlorine while Fairfax Water flushes its system, and that change has nothing to do with your pipe. A slow drip outdoors can usually wait for a scheduled visit; water entering the basement cannot.
Water Line Repair questions in Alexandria
How do I find out whether my service line is lead or galvanized steel?
How do I know which water provider serves my address?
Who owns the pipe between the water meter and my house?
What happens to my driveway, walk or lawn during the repair?
More plumbing services in Alexandria
Water Line Repair nearby
Sources
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