Emergency Plumbing Help in Brookhaven, Georgia

Water where it should not be in Brookhaven: close your main shutoff first, then match the call to where the water is coming from. DeKalb County, not the city, owns the water mains and sanitary sewer pipes under Brookhaven's streets and takes leaks and sewer spills on one 24-hour line. The city handles storm drains and building permits, and only a drain pipe that serves a city street is the city's to fix.

Who to call, and for what

What breaks in Brookhaven houses

Brookhaven splits almost evenly between houses and apartments: 50.9 percent of its housing units are single-family and 49.1 percent are in multi-unit buildings, and renters live in 46.6 percent of occupied homes. A 1992 median build year means about half the housing is more than 30 years old, while 19.1 percent has gone up since 2010. (Median build year 1992, 1.6% built before 1940, 19.1% since 2010; Census ACS 2019 to 2023.)

Freeze risk, the honest version

• By NOAA's 1991 to 2020 climate normals, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson station averages 35.7 nights a year at or below 32 degrees, with the first freeze typically around November 20 and the last around March 15.
• Georgia EPD tells homeowners to be alert for pipe freezes whenever outdoor temperatures threaten the 20 to 30 degree range, because homes here are built for occasional cold, not constant cold.
• The December 2022 freeze is the local benchmark: Atlanta bottomed at 8 degrees on December 24, and metro water systems reported frozen pipes, main breaks and boil water advisories in the days after.

When a hard freeze is coming: slow drip on faucets with exposed pipes, cabinet doors open, heat steady, hoses off. The frozen pipes guide has the full prevention and thawing list.

Worth knowing locally

• A leak or sewer spill in the street is DeKalb's, not the city's. The county's mains, service laterals, valves, hydrants and meters run under Brookhaven's streets, and the city says it has no authority to repair them. Report it on DeKalb's online form if you can: the auto-reply gives you a work order number. Then send that number, the address and photos to the city through Brookhaven Connect so Public Works can track the repair. Expect a quick temporary patch first; the city says DeKalb's surface restoration is done later by a separate crew.
• A flooded street or a clogged storm drain is the city's: Public Works takes after-hours drainage emergencies at 404-637-0540 (wait for the prompt, then press 1). The city's stormwater policy draws a hard line. A pipe that connects to and drains a city street is maintained by the city, up to the headwall where it empties. A pipe on private property that does not connect to a city street is the property owner's, and so are ditches, swales and creeks on private land.
• DeKalb's service-line split applies here: the county owns the line from the main to the meter, meter included, and the meter usually sits in a pit outside. From the meter to where the pipe enters the house, typically near the main shutoff, is the owner's, so a leak on that stretch is a job for your plumber, not the county. The common mistake is calling the county for every leak in the yard. Use the meter pit as the line: a leak on the street side of the meter, or at the meter itself, is DeKalb's; a leak on the house side is yours.

Permits, before the big repair

Brookhaven's permit rule is broad: a permit is required before any alteration or repair of a plumbing, gas or mechanical system other than ordinary repairs, and emergency work still needs its permit within 24 hours after the work starts. Contractors must show their Georgia license to pull one; a homeowner doing the work on their own home can pull it with a notarized Homeowner Affidavit. The office is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

City of Brookhaven Community Development, Building Permits
2665 Buford Highway, PEP Building, Brookhaven, GA 30324
404-637-0650

Any plumber you hire should carry a Georgia license; check it on the Secretary of State's license search.

ZIP codes we map to Brookhaven

30319, 30324, 30329, 30341. ZIP boundaries don't follow city limits exactly, so a ZIP can span more than one city; mapping from the Census Bureau's 2020 ZCTA-to-place file.

Nearby pages

• Atlanta
• Marietta
• Sandy Springs
• Decatur
• Dunwoody
• Alpharetta
• Roswell
• Smyrna
• Kennesaw
• Lawrenceville
• Duluth
• Johns Creek
• Peachtree Corners