Plumbers in Tempe, AZ

Most local tap water arrives through Salt River Project canals, which carry Salt and Verde River water. The City's 2025 water quality report says Salt River Project supplied about 79% of the water used in Tempe and Guadalupe, City wells about 14% and the Central Arizona Project's Colorado River supply about 7%. The river water is treated at the Johnny G. Martinez and South Tempe plants, and the City says each plant receives both SRP and CAP water. Wells do more of the work in the summer months, the City's high-demand season, so the mix changes through the year.

The blend matters because the sources differ. The City notes that the Verde River carries more of the minerals behind hardness, and its 2025 report puts the average at 12.3 grains per gallon, with samples from 10.4 to 32.6. Those minerals end up as scale in water heaters and on aerators and showerheads, and they are what a softener takes out. If your water bill comes from the City, its yearly report describes the water at your tap. When you call, tell us what you are seeing and where.

Census estimates put the median home here at 1986. About 43% of the city's homes and apartments were built in the 1970s and 1980s, and only about 15% in 2010 or later. Renters live in about 59% of occupied homes. In houses this age, questions about a leak, a slow drain or an aging heater tend to become a choice between fixing and replacing, and tenants, owners and property managers each need to know who makes the call.

The City rewrote its administrative code in June 2026. The current version requires a permit to install, alter, repair or replace a plumbing system, then lists exceptions. Clearing a stoppage or stopping a leak needs none when no pipe, valve or fixture is replaced, and a house or townhome can swap a water heater for one of the same type and fuel, in the same spot and with no higher amperage rating, without one. Until the end of 2026, applications may still be filed under the City's 2018 codes. Our license is ROC 331536 with the Arizona Registrar of Contractors.

The City Code carries the owner's sewer responsibility past the property line. Section 27-175 defines the building service line as all the piping on the owner's property and in the City right-of-way, down to and including the tap on the City sewer main, and makes the owner responsible for cleaning, unstopping, maintaining and repairing it. City crews look after the mains themselves, which the 2025 water report puts at more than 500 miles of wastewater pipe.

The City also asks residents to keep fats, oils and grease out of drains to prevent sewer backups and overflows. Its advice is to pour cooking grease into a container for the trash, scrape and wipe dishes before washing, use drain strainers and avoid the garbage disposal whenever possible. Residents can request a free Fat Trapper from Environmental Services, and the Household Products Collection Center recycles cooking oil. Food businesses answer to stricter rules, with grease traps or interceptors that must be pumped on a set schedule.