Customer Advisory: Union County Water Customers 

As we anticipate more wintry weather this weekend, we want to ensure that you have the information you need to prepare for freezing temperatures. Please visit our winter weather webpage for helpful information and review these tips carefully.

Tips to Help Protect Your Pipes from Freezing

• Open kitchen and bathroom cabinets under sinks so warm air can circulate around plumbing. If you have young children in your home, be sure to remove any chemical or cleaning products out of the reach of young children.
• For indoor sinks, consider turning on some faucets throughout your home to slowly drip both hot and cold water. Capture this water in pitchers or watering cans for reuse.
• Never let outdoor spigots drip in cold weather. Cold weather will freeze a small drip and freeze the pipe, potentially causing it to burst.
• Disconnect any outside water hoses from spigots. If left connected during freezing temperatures, water in hoses can freeze and expand causing connecting faucets and pipes to burst.

What to Do If You Lose Water Due to Freezing Temperatures

• Don't panic. If no water comes out when you turn on your faucet, call a local, licensed plumber. 
• If you think one of your pipes is frozen or has burst, turn off the water at the main shut-off valve in the house. Your shut-off valve is located where the service line enters your home, usually in a garage or closet. 
• Remember: while we cannot assist you with private plumbing issues, we encourage you to maintain a relationship with a local, licensed plumber who can assist you with repairing issues to pipes on your private property.

During the Storm/After-Hours Help

Before you report what you believe to be an emergency, we want to clarify what types of issues warrant an after-hours response by Union County Water crews. We encourage all customers to also identify a local, licensed plumber that you trust for issues with pipes in your home, and we want to help you know whether to call your water utility or your plumber in the event of a water or wastewater emergency.

• Sewer Back-ups: Call our Customer Care team immediately for guidance at 704-296-4210. Our after-hours crews are available for wastewater emergencies, even in winter weather events, although icy road conditions may impact our crews’ response times.
• Water Emergencies Outside or in the Right-of-Way: If you witness a broken water main or other water emergency that involves our underground system, please call our Customer Care team immediately at 704-296-4210. While rare, the typical type of water emergencies our crews respond to after-hours would involve our water system – not issues on your side of your meter or in your home’s plumbing system. Our crews are limited to maintenance and repairs on our publicly-owned system, not privately-owned plumbing. This is why we encourage you to have a trusted plumber to call for advice or assistance for issues inside your home, although our website also has many tips for you to learn more about how water and wastewater systems work.
• Loss of Water: If you encounter a loss of water service in your home during a winter storm, this is likely due to frozen pipes – not an issue with our water system. Read this story for more information and learn how you can prevent frozen pipes.
• Billing & Account Inquiries: All questions about billing statements, changes to customer accounts, and other routine matters will be addressed during normal business hours. For these inquiries, please include your name, street address where you receive service, and your complete question or concern to water@unioncountync.gov or use our webform. 

Stay Safe

Finally, you can help us respond to emergency calls for service quickly and safely by following local authorities’ guidance about staying off the roads during extreme weather events. By staying home, you can help keep the roads clear for first responders and utility workers, allowing us all to respond to our customers more quickly and restore vital services. If you must drive during severe weather, please be particularly mindful of our crews, whose primary workplace is often within the roadway. Be mindful of your speed and how wintry road conditions impact your ability to slow down and drive around work zones. Visit Union County’s Winter Preparedness page for more helpful information about staying safe in winter weather and the Winter Storm page for information about this specific winter storm event.

Thank you for reviewing this information. At Union County Water, our team is committed to ensuring you – our neighbors and our customers – have the reliable water and wastewater services you depend on everyday.