Cumberland County, NC Water Use Rules: Leak Reporting Duty (2026)

County Code Sec. 14-100(a)(1)-(4) sets the leak-adjustment procedure administered by the Cumberland County Division of Public Utilities (CCDPU). A customer must submit a request to public utilities staff at 130 Gillespie Street, Room 214, Fayetteville, and adjustments are limited to one occurrence per 12-month period per account or location. To qualify, the customer must have been out of town when the leak occurred, or the leak must not have been readily evident to a reasonable person, such as an underground line, a leak inside a wall, or one in a crawlspace; irrigation-system leaks are excluded outright.

The customer must submit documentation that the leak was repaired, such as a parts receipt or a contractor's invoice, before any adjustment is granted. Even with an approved adjustment, the minimum charge covering basic facility fees, operations and maintenance, and debt service still applies in full under Sec. 14-100(a)(3). Under Sec. 14-100(g), the calculation for high water consumption caused by a leak is reduced by 50 percent of the gallons used for that billing cycle, and adjustments cannot span more than two consecutive billing cycles under Sec.

14-100(a)(8). Sewer-side adjustments are allowed only if the leaked water never entered the sewer system, such as an outside spigot or underground pipe, under Sec. 14-100(a)(6).