Tamarac, FL Water Use Rules: Leak Reporting Duty (2026)

Tamarac Code § 22-32(a) puts full responsibility for the consumer's installation on the consumer: pipes, apparatus and equipment must be selected, installed and maintained to standard practice and in compliance with city rules, and the consumer must keep all pipes, valves, plumbing and fixtures in repair and promptly arrange for the stoppage of all leaks on the consumer's installation, regardless of where the water meter physically sits. The city Department of Utilities is expressly not responsible for maintaining or operating the consumer's own lines. Section 22-32(b) gives the city manager or a designated representative discretion to treat a private-property leak as an emergency: when that finding is made, the city can perform the repair itself, but only to the water or sewer line itself, not lawns or vegetation, and bills the property owner for the actual cost plus reasonable administrative costs.

If that bill goes unpaid for thirty days, the city can record a lien against the property in the county public records and foreclose it the same way a mechanic's lien is foreclosed under Florida law. Separately, Section 22-4 makes it unlawful to damage, tamper with or bypass a city meter or cause water loss to the city, and Section 22-37 lets the utility charge at least $50 to investigate an unauthorized connection or bypassed meter, on top of discontinuing service until the violation is corrected.