Turning Off Your Water

Promote Efficiency & Safety

Homeowners may turn off their water at the meter in an effort to promote efficiency and safety. You can shut off your water at the main shutoff valve located inside the house. If you do not know where your main shutoff valve is, the inside valve is broken or you have a leak outside the house, then you can shut off the water at the meter.

If for any reason you cannot shut off your water or you are apprehensive about trying, please contact JCSA operations at 757-229-7421 and we will send someone out to help right away.

Use caution while removing the meter box lid to avoid pinching your fingers or pulling the attached wires loose. To prevent damaging the wires, lift the lid about four inches and watch the wires as they move with the lid to the side.

Customers may only operate the ball valve within the meter setting. When off, the tab will be parallel to the meter, meaning that you only turn it 90 degrees for full operation. Ball valves do not operate like the valves commonly found throughout the home.

When finished with the repair, you may turn the water back on. If any work was done on your water system, there could be air in your lines. If air gets mixed into the system, you will see a 'milky' appearance in your water. Should that happen, we recommend that you turn on fixtures slowly and let the water run for a few minutes.

Carefully replace the meter box lid so you do not damage the meter or box, or create additional safety hazards.

JCSA does not allow for anyone other than its employees to turn off water from a main or branch line.