Why is there no water coming out of any faucet?

Start here, because the answer splits every other step. Step outside and check whether neighbors have water. A quick text or a knock tells you fast. If the whole block is dry, the cause is on the city's side: a planned shutoff, a main break, or a system failure. Call your water utility's outage line and check for posted notices. If only your home is dry, the cause is on your side of the meter, and you move on to your own valves.

A few more quick reads narrow it further:

1. 1Are both hot and cold out? If only hot water failed, that points to the water heater, not the supply line, and this page does not apply. No hot and no cold together means the trouble is upstream of the heater.
2. 2Was there a recent freeze? A cold snap below about 20 degrees, even overnight in Phoenix, can freeze an exposed pipe and block flow.
3. 3Did flow drop slowly or stop all at once? A sudden, total loss points to a closed valve or a broken main. A slow fade points to a failing pressure valve or, on a well, a struggling pump.
4. 4Are you on city water or a private well? Well homes have their own failure points, covered below.

Run these four checks before you touch anything. They take two minutes and tell you which section of this page matters.

The most common fix is also the simplest: a closed or partly closed valve. Valves get bumped, turned during a repair, or closed by a utility worker. Two valves can cut your whole-house supply.

The first is your main shutoff valve, usually where the supply line enters the home: near the water heater, in a garage, in a basement, or on an exterior wall on the side facing the street. Turn it fully counterclockwise to open. A lever-style ball valve should sit in line with the pipe when open and crosswise when closed. (For how to find and operate yours, see our guide on the main water shutoff valve.)

The second is the curb or meter valve at the street, inside the meter box near the property line. This is the utility's primary shutoff, but homeowners can operate the house-side valve. Some need a meter key; many turn with a wrench. If a recent repair, a new meter, or a tenant change happened lately, this valve may have been left closed. Open it slowly, a quarter turn at a time, and listen for flow.

A note on Phoenix homes: many sit on a closed system with a backflow preventer or a pressure-reducing valve near the meter. If a valve was throttled rather than fully opened, you can get a trickle instead of nothing. Open every valve in the chain fully before moving on.

If the block is dry, you are likely looking at a utility outage or a water main break. Main breaks are common. A study published in AWWA Water Science estimated roughly 260,000 water main breaks per year across the United States and Canada, and found that about a third of buried mains are more than 50 years old. Aging pipe under your street can fail with little warning, and the utility may shut a section to repair it.

Two kinds of outage exist. A planned shutoff for maintenance usually comes with a door hanger or a mailed notice giving a date and time window. An unplanned break gives no notice; you may see water pooling in the street, a pressure drop on the block, or a crew already on site. In both cases the repair is the city's responsibility, not yours, and the fix is to call the utility's outage or emergency line and wait. Do not start opening valves inside your home during a known main break, because debris and air can enter the line. When service returns, run a cold tap until the water clears before drinking.

If your home alone is dry, your valves are open, and the block has water, work through the remaining causes.

A frozen pipe. This is real in Phoenix during a hard winter night. The U.S. Department of Energy states that "southern states" generally start having frozen-pipe problems "when the temperature reaches about 20 degrees Fahrenheit." The American Red Cross warns that water inside an uninsulated pipe can freeze in under six hours once the air drops below 20 degrees. At-risk spots are exterior walls, hose bibs on north-facing walls, unheated garages, attics, and pool equipment lines. If a freeze is your suspect, open a faucet to relieve pressure and apply gentle heat with a hair dryer or warm towels, working from the faucet end back. Never use an open flame. A pipe that froze may also have split, so watch for leaks as it thaws. (See our page on whether pipes can freeze in Phoenix for prevention steps.)

A failed well pump or pressure tank. If your home runs on a private well, the supply chain is different. No water at all often means a dead well pump, a tripped breaker on the pump circuit, a waterlogged or failed pressure tank, or a pressure switch stuck open. Check the breaker first. If the pump motor runs but no water arrives, the well level or the pump itself may be the issue. Well system repairs are specialized work, and a licensed plumber or pump contractor should handle them.

A shutoff for nonpayment. Utilities can close the curb valve when a bill goes unpaid. If you have moved recently, missed a notice, or just opened service, call the utility to confirm the account is active. They control that valve, and only they can legally restore it.

A stuck pressure-reducing valve. A PRV sits just downstream of the main shutoff and protects the home from high street pressure. The International Plumbing Code, in Section 604.8, requires a PRV wherever incoming static pressure tops 80 psi, and the valve must fail in the open position by design. Even so, scale and worn internal parts can jam one nearly closed, choking flow to a trickle or nothing. A failing PRV often shows other signs first: pressure that creeps, fluctuates, or drops over weeks. EPA WaterSense guidance notes that household fixtures work best between about 45 and 60 psi, so a PRV that has drifted far below that range is worth testing. Confirm with a screw-on gauge at a hose bib with all fixtures off; a healthy reading lands between 40 and 80 psi. A stuck PRV is a replacement job, not a repair.

The dividing line is the meter. As a rule, the water utility owns and maintains the main in the street, the service line up to the meter, and the meter itself. Everything from the meter into and through your home is your responsibility. That split tells you who to call.

• City's side: block-wide outages, main breaks, no-notice pressure loss across the neighborhood, a broken meter, or a curb valve closed for nonpayment. Call the utility.
• Your side: a closed main shutoff, a frozen interior pipe, a well pump, a clogged whole-house filter, or a stuck PRV. This is a plumber's call, or a quick fix you can do yourself.

A clean diagnostic sequence saves a wasted service visit: confirm the block has water, confirm both your valves are fully open, check for a recent freeze, and test pressure at a hose bib. If the block is dry, it is the utility's job. If your home alone has no water and your valves are open, the trouble is on your side and a licensed plumber can pinpoint it fast. In a true emergency, with no water and a vulnerable household, our team answers 24/7, and we can trace a no-water call from the meter to the fixture and get flow back.