If a pipe in your house fails right now, the single most useful thing you can do is shut off the main water valve. Not call a plumber. Not call your insurance. Shut the water off first — every minute it keeps running is more damage and more money. If you have never done this before, here is the two-minute version, written so you can act fast.

Step 1: Find your shut-off, today

Do not wait for an emergency to find the valve. Walk into your basement or utility area right now. In most Omaha homes you are looking for:

A pipe coming through the front foundation wall in the basement (the side facing the street). The shut-off is on that line, usually within a few feet of where the pipe enters.
The valve is before the meter (closer to the wall) in some homes and after the meter in others. Both versions exist.
It is usually 4 to 6 feet off the floor.
In slab-foundation homes without a basement — common in newer parts of West Omaha and Papillion — the shut-off is often in a coat closet or pantry near the front of the house, in the garage, or in a utility closet near the water heater.

If you cannot find it, look for the water meter first — the main shut-off is almost always right next to it. The meter is a round dial assembly on a pipe, often with a glass cover. Follow the pipe a foot or two in either direction; you will find the valve.

Step 2: Recognize the type of valve

There are two common types in Omaha homes, and they close differently.

Ball valve — a lever that you turn a quarter turn. Open is parallel to the pipe; closed is perpendicular. These are reliable and easy to operate. Newer homes and any house that has had a recent water service update will usually have one.

Gate valve (wheel valve) — a round handle that you turn clockwise (righty-tighty) 5 to 15 full turns to close. Older homes have these. They work fine but can stick or seize after years without use.

Pro tip: while you are down there finding it, try to turn it once. Just to confirm it actually moves. If it does not, do not force it — call us during normal hours and we will replace it before you need it. A seized main valve is a problem you want to discover on a Tuesday, not on a Saturday night.

Step 3: Close it (the right way)

When water is going where it should not, here is what to do:

Walk to the main shut-off (you already know where it is — see Step 1).
Ball valve: rotate the lever a quarter turn so it is perpendicular to the pipe. Done.
Gate valve: turn the wheel clockwise until it stops. It might take 10+ full turns. Do not over-torque at the end; stop when it stops.
Open the lowest faucet in the house (usually a basement utility sink or a basement hose bib). This drains the remaining water in the supply lines downward, which reduces what continues to drip from the failure point upstairs.
Turn off the water heater: flip its breaker if electric, or turn the gas valve to "off" if gas. With cold water no longer entering the tank, the heating element or burner can damage it if left running.

That is the whole emergency shut-off procedure. Two minutes if you have done it once before, four if you are figuring it out under stress.

What if you cannot stop the water?

If the valve will not budge, is leaking around the stem, or breaks off in your hand (rare, but it happens with very old gate valves), do not panic — there are two backup options:

The curb-stop outside. Out at the property line, usually in the front yard near the sidewalk, there is a small round metal cover marked "water." Under it is the city's shut-off valve for your service line. It requires a curb key (sometimes called a "water key" or "Buffalo box key") — a cheap T-handled tool available at any hardware store for under $20. Worth keeping one. With the cover off, you reach down and turn the valve a quarter turn.

The city water utility. Metropolitan Utilities District (M.U.D.) has an emergency line for shut-offs. They will dispatch someone to shut off your service at the main. There is sometimes a small fee. Save the number in your phone.

A common Omaha mistake to avoid

The single most expensive way to handle a burst pipe in this town is to discover, mid-emergency, that your interior shut-off has been seized closed for a decade and you have no curb key. Older homes in Dundee, Benson and the Midtown area are full of original gate valves that have not been touched since the house was built. They look fine; they do not move. The fix is a five-minute, sub-$200 valve replacement during a Tuesday afternoon visit — vastly cheaper than a flooded basement on a Saturday night because the valve would not close. If you live in an older Omaha home and you have never operated your main shut-off, that is a good thing to schedule, not a thing to discover.

After the water is off

Once the leak has stopped, your priorities are damage control, not figuring out the plumbing. Take photos, move valuables out of the wet area, get towels and a wet/dry vac on standing water, and call a plumber. Our complete walkthrough of what to do when a pipe bursts covers the rest in order. For acute situations our 24/7 emergency plumbing line handles the call.

If the leak was a hidden one — high water bill, sound of running water, a damp spot — and you are not sure where it is, that is a job for professional leak detection.

Things to fix today, not tomorrow

A handful of small things you can verify in your house right now, while the system is calm:

The main shut-off actually works. Open and close it once. If it sticks, hisses or leaks at the stem, schedule a replacement.
Every fixture has a working local shut-off. Each sink, toilet and washing machine should have its own small valve so you do not have to kill water to the whole house for a leak in one spot. Many older homes are missing these or have ones that have seized closed.
You own a curb key if your main is a gate valve or your local shut-offs are old.
Everyone in the household knows where the main shut-off is. Spouse, kids, anyone over about 12. The person in the house when the pipe bursts is often not the one who knows where the valve is.

The bottom line

The cost of finding your main shut-off today is two minutes of walking around the basement. The cost of not knowing where it is when a pipe fails can be thousands of dollars in water damage. We have run hundreds of calls where the homeowner did the right thing in those first two minutes, and we have run hundreds where they did not. The difference shows up on the final invoice every time.

How to Shut Off Your Water Main in an Emergency