Skip to content
BourbounPLUMBINGCall
Text us instead

Emergencies

Water going somewhere it shouldn't?

Shut it off first. Then work out whose line it is. This page tells you how to do both, and gives you the numbers — including the ones that aren't ours.

(575) 430-9815

  1. Shut the water off

    Every house has a main shut-off — usually where the supply enters, in a garage, a utility closet, or in the meter box at the street. Turn it clockwise until it stops. If you don't know where yours is, find it now, before you need it.

  2. Work out whose side it's on

    The City of Alamogordo maintains the water and sewer mains in the street or the alley. You own everything from the connection to the house. If the water is coming up in the street, that's the City. If it's in your yard or under your slab, that's yours — and that's our work.

  3. Call the right number

    City side: the Alamogordo utilities after-hours emergency line, 575-439-4300, staffed around the clock for main breaks. Your side: call us.

  4. Don't wait on a report

    The City grades reports by severity, and a minor leak — their Level I — can take up to ten business days to get to. That's fine for a weep in the street. It is not a plan for water running under your house.

The numbers, in one place

Worth saving in your phone before you need them.

  • Bourboun Plumbing

    Anything on your side of the meter — burst lines, no water, sewage backing up, water heater failure.

    (575) 430-9815

  • City of Alamogordo — water emergency

    Main breaks in the street, no water on the whole block, a manhole surcharging. Staffed 24 hours.

    (575) 439-4300

  • City of Alamogordo — utilities admin

    Billing, meters, service transfers. Mon–Fri, 7:00am–3:30pm.

    (575) 489-2274

  • New Mexico Gas Company — smell of gas

    If you smell gas: get out first, then call from outside — or call 911. Don't switch anything on or off on your way out.

    (888) 664-2726

City numbers and the responsibility split are published by the City of Alamogordo at ci.alamogordo.nm.us — "Report a Problem." Verify them yourself; we'd rather you had the right number than ours.

While you wait

  • Open a low faucet — a bath tap or an outside bib — to drain what's still in the pipes.
  • If it's near anything electrical, kill the breaker for that circuit before you go near the water.
  • Move what you can and take photos before you mop. Your insurer will want them.
  • If a water heater is leaking, turn off its gas or its breaker as well as the water.

Before the next freeze

Alamogordo's cold season runs from late November to mid-February and the low sits around 29°F. That's usually survivable. Cloudcroft's January low is 18°F, and that isn't.

In February 2011 an arctic storm took gas service off more than 28,000 New Mexico customers — Alamogordo and most of Otero County among them — and the thaw afterwards burst pipes across the state. It has happened here in living memory. Insulate the exposed lines and know where your shut-off is.