Emergency Water Removal in Cobb County, GA: County Pipe or Yours?

Water is on the floor and it is still coming. A supply line let go under the sink, the water heater split, or a storm found the low corner of the basement. This page is for the next ten minutes and the hours after them in Cobb County, Georgia: what to shut off, which utility to phone if the water is coming from the street side of the meter, and what a water removal provider does once the call is made.

Water Damage Cobb County is a free referral service that connects callers with independent local water damage providers. It is not a contractor and does not remove water, dry buildings or make repairs itself. The provider you are connected with looks at the damage, prices the job and does the work. There is more on how the free call works.

This page covers one job: getting standing water out of a building and getting drying started. Water that rose from a creek or a storm drain belongs on the flood damage restoration in Cobb County page, a sewer backup on the sewage cleanup in Cobb County page, and growth that shows up after the water is gone on the mold remediation in Cobb County page.

The first ten minutes, in order

The order matters more than the speed. Each step below either protects a person or stops the damage from growing, and the first two come before any thought of mopping.

1. Electricity first. The CDC’s rule is never to switch power on or off, or use an electric tool or appliance, while standing in water. Shut off the main breaker only if the panel can be reached from a dry place. If getting to it means stepping into standing water, the CDC’s guidance is to call an electrician to turn the power off.
2. Gas. If you smell gas or suspect a leak, the CDC says to close the main gas valve, open the windows and leave the house at once.
3. Stop the source. Close the valve at the fixture if there is one: the stop under a sink or toilet, or the cold supply valve above the water heater. If that does not stop it, close the main shut-off. Consumer Reports (updated January 23, 2026) says the main valve is usually at the water meter or where the main line enters the house.
4. Look up. A ceiling that sags or bulges with water is a structural warning, not a mopping job. The joint federal guide to cleanup after disasters tells people entering a water-damaged home to look for sagging ceilings or floors. Stay out from under it and keep everyone else out too.
5. Photograph, then move. Take pictures of the water, the source and every damaged item before anything is shifted. Then carry rugs, bedding, electronics and light furniture out of the wet area.
6. Make the calls. With the source stopped and the room recorded, call the number on this page to be connected with a local provider, and call your insurance agent or insurer.

One local detail belongs with step three. On the Cobb County Water System the meter box is the dividing line: the county owns and maintains the water pipe from the main to the connection point at the meter, and the pipe from the meter to the building is the property owner’s responsibility. So the next question, before any pump is switched on, is whose water this is.

Is it the county’s water or yours? Who to call in Cobb County

Many people who search for emergency water removal in Cobb County are really asking a utility question: is there an outage, what is the water department’s number, how is a leak reported. The answer depends on where the property sits, because Cobb County does not have a single water utility. There is a county system, and there are separate city utilities in Marietta, Smyrna and Austell.

The Cobb County Water System says it distributes water to customers in unincorporated Cobb County and that its service also reaches customers in the cities of Acworth, Kennesaw, Mableton and Powder Springs. East Cobb, Vinings, Cumberland and Fair Oaks are unincorporated, so the county’s statement covers them, though the name on the water bill is what settles it for any one address. Marietta, Smyrna and Austell are different. The Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority, the wholesale supplier, lists each of the three as a customer in its own right, separately from Cobb County. Marietta and Austell each publish a number for water trouble, and the City of Smyrna bills its own water and sewer customers.

Where the property is	Who runs the water	Number for a broken water line or sewer backup
Unincorporated Cobb, including East Cobb, Vinings, Cumberland and Fair Oaks	Cobb County Water System	Emergency response and dispatch 770-419-6201. Customer service 770-419-6200.
Acworth, Kennesaw, Mableton, Powder Springs	Cobb County Water System	Emergency response and dispatch 770-419-6201. Customer service 770-419-6200.
Marietta	Marietta Water	Water Field Operations 770-794-5230, the number the city lists for water maintenance and emergencies and for reporting a sewer spill.
Austell	City of Austell Public Works	(770) 944-4325, option 4, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. After hours the city lists 404-387-7898 for water and sewer.
Smyrna	City of Smyrna, which bills its own water and sewer customers	Use the number printed on your City of Smyrna water bill. No after-hours city number could be confirmed for this page.

The county is specific about its dispatch line. It asks customers to call 770-419-6201 only for a sewer backup in a home or street, or for a broken water line that is gushing or leaking severely. Everything else goes to customer service, and the report forms are on the Cobb County Water System contact page. For outages and boil water notices, check the county system’s own site or your city utility. This page does not track the status of any water system, and utility numbers change, so confirm them against your bill.

The meter test for a leak you cannot see

The county publishes a simple test for a leak that has no obvious source. Watch the arrow or triangle on the face of the meter: if it spins when no water is being used, there may be a leak. Turn off every fixture and the whole-house shut-off, and if it still spins, the county’s water leaks page says the leak is most likely in the service line between the meter and the house. The same page states that a leak after the meter is the property owner’s responsibility and a leak before it is the county’s to repair.

A service line leak rarely fills a room. It shows as a soggy strip of yard, a bill that jumps, or water at the foundation wall, and the pipe repair belongs to a plumber. The S500, the trade standard for water damage work, says that finding and correcting the cause of the water is the property owner’s responsibility and not the restorer’s. In practice a water removal provider deals with what got wet, and a plumber deals with the pipe.

Which call for which water

What you are seeing	First call	Then
Water gushing in the street or on the street side of the meter	Your water utility’s emergency line from the table above	A water removal provider only if the water reaches the building
The meter spins with everything off, or the yard is wet between meter and house	A plumber, since that line is the owner’s	A water removal provider if water has reached a crawl space, basement or slab
A burst pipe, failed water heater, supply line or appliance leak indoors	Shut off the water, then call the number on this page	Your insurance agent or insurer
Sewage coming up through a floor drain, tub or toilet	Your utility’s dispatch line, which on the county system takes sewer backup reports	A provider equipped for contaminated water; see the sewage cleanup page
Street or yard drainage flooding in the county	Cobb County Stormwater Management on 770-419-6435 for problems outside the road right-of-way, Cobb DOT on 770-528-1600 for problems within it	See the flood damage page if water entered the building

What emergency water removal involves, and where it stops

Emergency water removal is the first of three stages, and it helps to know where each one ends because they are scoped and priced separately. What follows describes how restoration providers generally work. The provider you are connected with decides the method for your building.

Extraction

Extraction is the physical removal of liquid water, and the tools scale with depth. For standing water, once the power has been made safe, the CDC names a wet-dry shop vacuum, an electric water transfer pump or a sump pump. For soaked carpet, upholstered furniture and concrete, the first action in EPA’s cleanup table is a water extraction vacuum, and FEMA notes that a wet-dry vacuum is also used to take water off studs and exposed wood framing.

The reason to extract thoroughly is plain arithmetic: every gallon lifted as liquid is a gallon that does not have to be evaporated out of the building over the following days. This is also the stage at which providers generally trace how far the water traveled. The instruments for that are moisture meters and infrared imaging, which find wet material behind baseboards and under flooring that looks dry from above.

Drying

Drying starts when the liquid is gone and the materials are still wet. Air movers push air across wet surfaces so the water evaporates faster, and dehumidifiers pull that moisture back out of the room air. A 2007 trade magazine summary of the S500 edition then in force describes a drying job as checked at least once a day from the first assessment to the end, with equipment moved, added or changed if the readings do not show drying.

The finish line is a reading, not a date. The restorer sets a dry standard for each type of material and dries until the meter reaches it. Published time frames differ: FEMA’s brochure says a wet area usually takes two to three days to dry completely, while HomeAdvisor’s guide (updated June 17, 2026) says a water-damaged home takes around five days, depending on the damage.

Repair

Repair comes after the structure is dry: new drywall, carpet pad, flooring, paint. It is separate work with its own estimate, and FEMA advises that rebuilding wait until the area has dried completely. The whole sequence, from the first call to the rebuild, is set out on the main page about water damage in Cobb County.

Clean, grey or black: why the category of water decides what is saved

Restorers sort water into three categories under the S500, and the category has more say over what is kept than the depth does. A provider will ask where the water came from before asking how much there is.

Category	Common name	What it means	Typical sources
Category 1	Clean water	From a sanitary source, with no substantial risk from skin contact, swallowing or breathing it in	Broken water supply lines, tub or sink overflows
Category 2	Grey water	Significant contamination that can cause discomfort or illness if touched or swallowed	Dishwasher or washing machine discharge, sump pump failures
Category 3	Black water	Grossly contaminated water that can cause severe adverse health effects if touched or swallowed	Sewage, rising water from rivers or streams

Clean water does not stay clean. A category is not fixed: Category 1 water can deteriorate to Category 2 or 3, and Category 2 can become Category 3, depending on time, temperature and the growth of microbes. A supply line leak found within the hour and the same leak found after a week away are different jobs.

EPA publishes a table of what can be dried and kept after water damage, and it applies only to clean water. Its rows give a fair picture of what a quick response saves:

• Carpet and backing wet by clean water can be saved if dried within 24 to 48 hours with a water extraction vacuum, a dehumidifier and fans. The subfloor underneath has to be cleaned and dried as well.
• Fiberglass and cellulose insulation that got wet is discarded and replaced, even when the water was clean.
• Drywall may be dried in place only if it shows no obvious swelling and its seams are intact. Otherwise it is removed and replaced, and the wall cavity ventilated where possible.
• Wood surfaces, including hardwood floors: remove moisture immediately and dry with dehumidifiers, gentle heat and fans, taking care with heat on hardwood.

Once sewage or other contamination is known or suspected, EPA’s table no longer applies and its advice is to consult an experienced professional. That work, with its own rules for what is thrown out, is covered on the sewage cleanup page linked near the top of this one.

The mold clock

EPA’s mold and moisture guide says water-damaged areas and items should be dried within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold growth. Treat that as a guideline and not a guarantee in either direction. EPA itself notes that mold does not always appear after 48 hours and may have started even in materials dried inside that time.

Two published figures are worth setting side by side. NOAA’s long-term record for the Atlanta station, which covers 1945 to 2018, averages 81 percent relative humidity in the morning and 55 percent in the afternoon across the year, and in July, August and September the morning average runs 86 to 87 percent. That is Atlanta’s record, not a reading taken in Cobb County. EPA’s indoor target for preventing mold is below 60 percent, ideally 30 to 50 percent.

FEMA’s brochure sets a condition on airing a house out: open it to outside air when the humidity outdoors is lower than indoors. On a morning when the outdoor reading is in the 80s that condition may not be met, and the drying equipment the brochure names is fans and dehumidifiers. If growth has already started, see the mold remediation page linked near the top of this one.

While you wait: what is safe to do and what is not

If the water came from a clean source, the power question is settled and the ceiling is sound, a few things help before anyone arrives:

• Mop and blot. The Insurance Information Institute’s advice after a burst pipe is to turn off the water and then mop up to stop further damage.
• Lift curtains and bed skirts off the wet floor and pin them up.
• Open cabinet doors and take out drawers so the boxes can breathe.
• Open interior and closet doors so air can move between rooms.

And some things make it worse or put someone at risk:

• Do not use a household vacuum on water. It is not built for liquid, and it is an electric appliance in a wet room.
• Do not go into a room where the ceiling is holding water.
• Do not set up fans until the water is known to be clean. That is EPA’s instruction wherever sewage or other contamination is possible, and FEMA adds that fans are not used once mold has started, because they can spread it.
• Do not run the heating and cooling system to dry the house if flood water reached it. EPA says so directly.
• Keep generators and engine-driven pumps outside. EPA’s figure for a fuel-powered generator is at least 20 feet from buildings, never in a home, garage or shed, because of carbon monoxide.

Burst and frozen pipes in Cobb County

Cobb County is not a place people associate with frozen plumbing, which is part of the problem. On December 24, 2022 the low at the National Weather Service’s Atlanta climate site was 8 F, the coldest reading of that month. Stations inside the county read colder still: 6.1 F at Dobbins in Marietta and 7 F at McCollum Field by Kennesaw on that date.

The result was reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on December 28, 2022. Cobb County closed the Vinings Library, the West Cobb Senior Center and the Freeman Poole Senior Center because of burst pipes and water damage, and the county fire department was described as overrun with calls about burst pipes and flooding as frozen pipes thawed.

Consumer Reports gives 20 F as the temperature below which frozen pipes generally occur and names pipes in unheated interior spaces, such as basements, attics and garages, as the most at risk. When one bursts, the Insurance Information Institute’s first step is to turn off the water. On the insurance side, the NAIC says policies often cover water damage from a frozen pipe that bursts, provided the owner took reasonable steps to keep the pipes from freezing.

What it costs, and who sets the price

The call through this site is free. Water Damage Cobb County has no price list and sets no prices; the provider who takes the job prices it after seeing it. No published price list specific to Cobb County was found for this page, so the figures below are national ones from a named source.

What moves the price of a water removal job is consistent from one job to the next:

• Depth and area. More water and more square feet mean more extraction time and more drying equipment.
• Category. Contaminated water means protective equipment and more material thrown away.
• How long it sat. Water that has soaked into framing and subfloor takes longer to dry than water caught on the surface.
• Materials. Carpet over pad, hardwood, plaster and concrete each dry at their own pace.
• Access. A crawl space or a finished basement is slower to work in than an open room at ground level.
• After-hours work. A provider may charge differently for a night or weekend call. Ask before work starts.

HomeAdvisor national estimate, updated June 17, 2026	Figure
Cleanup per square foot, clean water (Category 1)	About $3.50
Cleanup per square foot, grey water (Category 2)	About $5.25
Cleanup per square foot, black water (Category 3)	About $7.50
Class 1, the smallest drying job	About $150 to $400
Class 2, significant absorption	About $500 to $1,000
Class 3, the highest absorption in porous materials	About $1,000 to $3,000
Class 4, water held deep in slow-drying materials	About $20,000 to $100,000
Water damage restoration overall, national average	$3,868, with most homeowners paying $1,383 to $6,369

Class is a different measure from category. It describes how much water the building materials have absorbed, and so how big the drying job is, not how dirty the water is. The short class descriptions in the table follow trade summaries of the S500; the dollar figures are HomeAdvisor’s. They are national estimates, not quotes for Cobb County and not prices from this site or from any provider. A flooded basement is priced by the same drivers: the square footage that got wet, the category of the water, and whether the basement is bare concrete or finished with carpet, drywall and insulation.

Will insurance pay for water removal?

It depends on how the water got there. The NAIC describes the plumbing loss a homeowners policy pays for as a discharge that is both sudden and accidental. A pipe that bursts fits that description. A fitting that has dripped inside a wall for months is a different matter: the Insurance Information Institute says a policy will not pay for damage due to lack of maintenance, and the ISO HO-3 sample form the Institute publishes excludes loss caused by neglect, meaning the owner’s failure to use all reasonable means to save and preserve the property at and after the time of a loss.

That same form is the insurance reason to get water out quickly. Among the owner’s duties after a loss it lists protecting the property from further damage, making reasonable and necessary repairs to protect it, and keeping an accurate record of what those repairs cost. Under a clause titled Reasonable Repairs, it pays the reasonable cost of necessary measures taken only to protect covered property from further damage after a covered loss. A real policy can differ from the sample, so read your own.

Georgia’s Office of Commissioner of Insurance tells policyholders to contact their agent or insurer immediately after a loss and to protect the property from further damage. The same office says a standard homeowners policy does not cover flooding, which is a separate policy bought through the National Flood Insurance Program, so water that rose from outside is a different claim. The Insurance Information Institute adds that sewer backups are not covered by a typical homeowners policy unless that cover was bought separately.

For the claim itself, the Insurance Information Institute advises keeping receipts for what is spent, giving the adjuster an inventory of damaged items and not throwing damaged items out before the adjuster has visited. The NAIC says the insurer sends that adjuster at no cost to the policyholder. Water Damage Cobb County does not handle claims and cannot say what any policy will pay.

Renters, condo and townhome owners, and businesses

If you rent

Tell the landlord or property manager at once, and follow the call with a message in writing so there is a record of the time. Protect your own belongings: the building owner’s insurance generally covers the building, and a tenant’s furniture and electronics are a matter for the tenant’s own renters policy. For questions about who must fix what, the Georgia Department of Public Health sends renters to Georgia Legal Aid and the Georgia Landlord Tenant Handbook.

Water from the unit above

Shared walls and stacked floors are a large part of the housing in Marietta and Smyrna. Census estimates for 2020 to 2024 put 44.5 percent of Marietta’s homes and 35.7 percent of Smyrna’s in buildings of two or more units, and 40.6 percent of Smyrna’s occupied homes are rented. When water comes through a ceiling from above, the source is in someone else’s unit. Reach the neighbor or the manager so the valve upstairs is closed, photograph the ceiling, stay out from under any section that sags, and then call.

Condo and townhome owners should also tell the association, because the line between what the association maintains and what the owner maintains is set by the community’s own documents.

Businesses and property managers

The service connects commercial callers too. Have three things ready: the name of the person who can authorize work, how a provider gets into the building and the affected suite after hours, and the insurer or agent for the property. If tenants are affected, say how many units or suites are wet.

What to ask before a provider unloads equipment

The footer of this site says it plainly: it is the property owner’s job to verify that the contractor hired carries the license and insurance the work requires. Water Damage Cobb County does not certify, vet or guarantee any provider. A few questions asked at the door cover most of it.

• Proof of general liability insurance. Georgia’s Residential and General Contractors Board advises asking for it and checking that the name on the insurance matches the licensed person or business.
• A written scope and price for the extraction and drying stage, before work starts, with repair quoted separately.
• How they will show the structure is dry. The answer should involve moisture readings against a target for each material, recorded day by day.
• Training. Ask whether the technicians are trained to the IICRC S500, the trade standard for professional water damage restoration, now in its Fifth Edition (2021).
• Licensed trades. The Georgia Attorney General’s office states that general contractors, electricians, plumbers, and heating and air conditioning contractors must be licensed through the Secretary of State’s office. If the job includes that work, ask who holds the license.

What happens when you call

The call is routed to a participating independent provider for your area. Who answers, and how soon someone can come out, depends on which providers are available where you are at that moment. Many participating providers offer 24-hour emergency water removal, including nights and weekends, but availability varies by location and demand and is not guaranteed.

Four pieces of information make the call quicker:

• The address, and the city or unincorporated area it is in.
• Where the water came from, as far as you can tell, and whether it has been stopped.
• Whether the power is on in the wet area.
• Whether it is a house, a unit in a shared building or a business.

Across Cobb County

Each of the county’s seven cities has its own page, because the utility, the housing and the local record differ from one to the next.

• Marietta has its own water utility and its own field operations number, and close to half its homes are in multi-unit buildings: water damage restoration in Marietta, GA.
• Smyrna bills its own water and sewer customers, and four in ten occupied homes are rented: water damage in Smyrna, GA.
• Kennesaw is on the county system, and the McCollum Field station beside it logged 7 F in December 2022: water damage restoration in Kennesaw, GA.
• Acworth is on the county system and sits along the banks of Lake Acworth and Lake Allatoona: water damage restoration in Acworth, GA.
• Powder Springs is on the county system, and 85 percent of its housing units are detached houses, where the line from meter to house is the owner’s: water damage restoration in Powder Springs, GA.
• Austell runs water and sewer through its own Public Works department, with a separate after-hours number: water damage restoration in Austell, GA.
• Mableton gets its water from the county system, not from the city; the county names it among the cities it serves: water damage restoration in Mableton, GA.

Unincorporated addresses, including East Cobb, Vinings, Cumberland and Fair Oaks, use the county numbers in the table near the top of this page.

Questions people ask