The City of Poway provides water to its residents, treating mostly imported supply plus rain captured in Lake Poway at the Lester J. Berglund Water Treatment Plant, so a Poway house on city water has no well pump of its own. Pressure trouble on city service usually comes from a regulator, a leak, a booster pump or scale, while a property with its own well needs the pump, tank and switch checked. Call the number on this page to be connected with a local plumber in Poway.
How can I tell what kind of system I have?
Start with the bill. A City of Poway Water / Sewer account means water arrives through a meter, and the city's ordinance treats the service connection as ending at the downstream end of that meter. From there to the faucets, the piping is the owner's concern. If you have no city water bill and there's a wellhead, a pressure tank and a control box on the lot, you have a private well. Some properties have both: city water for the house and a separate pump for irrigation or animals. A plumber can trace which lines go where.
What causes weak pressure on Poway city water?
The median Poway home was built around 1978, so original regulators and decades-old supply lines are common. A regulator can slowly lose its setting or stick. A leak under a slab or in the yard steals flow. Poway's water is also hard, around 228 to 235 ppm as calcium carbonate, and that scale builds up in aerators, cartridges and regulator ports. Larger lots on hillsides may have a booster pump with its own switch and tank, which can fail just like well equipment.
What if my lot does have a well or a pump?
Well and booster systems share the same weak points. A tank that has lost its air charge makes the switch click on and off. A worn check valve lets pressure bleed back. A motor that hums but doesn't move water may have a bad capacitor or a seized impeller. Note what you hear and see before calling. Any pump tied into a home that also has city water raises a backflow question: Poway's cross-connection program requires backflow devices to be tested every year, at the owner's expense, by a certified tester on the city's approved list. Plumbing changes are permitted through the City of Poway Building Division, which accepts electronic submittals only.
A Poway note
For a break in the street, a meter problem or an outage, Poway's customer services line is 858-668-4401; after 3:00 p.m. on business days and on weekends and holidays, the city lists the Water Treatment Plant at 858-668-4751. Anything on your side of the meter is a plumbing job, and that's where the person on this line can help.
Well Pump Repair questions in Poway
How do I find out whether my lot has a private well?
Does a home with both a well and district water need backflow protection?
Does hard water shorten the life of pressure tanks, switches and regulators?
What is a pressure tank for, and how can I tell it has failed?
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