We say it plainly because it affects your call. Elkins Park sits in Cheltenham Township, not in Abington, so we reach you from outside town and we do not pretend otherwise. Dispatch is available around the clock, and a licensed and insured plumber can be lined up for a same-day appointment when available.
Old York Road (Route 611) links the two places, but the offices that touch your house change at the township line. Permits, sewer emergencies and flood records for an Elkins Park address come from Cheltenham Township and Aqua Pennsylvania. The sections below say who to ask for what, so you do not phone the wrong office while water is still moving. The Cheltenham-side neighbors in Wyncote and part of Glenside face the same split.
Who answers which call at an Elkins Park address
Four situations cover most emergencies here. Knowing the right first call saves time when a basement is filling.
| The problem | Call first | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Water spraying or pooling inside the house | Our 24/7 line, (215) 714-6692 | Pipes inside the building belong to the owner, and a plumber can stop the flow and repair the break |
| Sewage coming up a floor drain, tub or toilet | Aqua's 24/7 sewer line, (877) 987-2782, and then us | The township says Aqua now owns and manages Cheltenham's sewer system and takes sewer emergencies, so ask whether the main is clear before paying to open your own pipe |
| A leak on the pipe between the street and the house | Us for the customer side, Aqua for the main | Aqua's published guidance splits ownership at the curb, which is why water service line repair starts with finding the break |
| A question about whether a repair needs a permit | Cheltenham Township's building and codes office | The township, not Abington, issues the permits for an Elkins Park house, so ask its building department about your specific job |
Phone numbers and ownership lines can change, so check your latest Aqua bill or the township website if a number does not connect.
Before a plumber reaches your door
These moves cost nothing and cut the damage while you wait. Do only what you can do safely.
Shut off the main
The main valve is usually where the water line enters the house, often near the meter. Turn a round handle clockwise until it stops, or turn a lever a quarter turn. If it will not move, tell the dispatcher.
Keep power away from water
If water is near an outlet, a panel or a lit appliance, stay back and do not touch them. Switch off the breaker only if you can reach it on dry ground.
Stop sending water down the drains
If a floor drain or tub is backing up, do not flush, run the washer or use the dishwasher. Every gallon you add may end up on the floor.
Clear the area
Lift rugs, boxes and electronics off wet floors and photograph the damage first. Your insurer will ask for those photos.
Smell gas? Leave first
If you smell gas, walk out of the building and call the gas utility or 911 before you call us. A plumber cannot work in a house with a gas leak.
Call and stay reachable
Give the dispatcher your street address, where the water is coming from and a phone that will pick up. A clear description helps send the right plumber with the right parts.
Where Tookany Creek reaches Elkins Park streets
The 2017 Montgomery County hazard mitigation plan names Tookany Creek as the source of Elkins Park's flooding. That record is why we treat a wet basement here as a drainage question before we call it a pipe question.
Church Road and Shoemaker Road
The plan says a portion of Elkins Park along these two roads floods repeatedly from the creek, including the area around the township Public Works Building. If your house is close by, a working sump pump and a way to keep sewage from backing in matter more than cosmetic repairs. See sump pump repair for what that work involves.
Rock, Widener, Elkins, Tyson and New Second
The same plan lists homes on Rock and Widener Road, Elkins Avenue, Tyson Avenue and New Second Street as having reported flooding in the past. Past reports are not a forecast, but they are a reason to photograph your basement after every heavy storm so you can show a plumber what the water did.
Tookany Creek Parkway
The county plan notes the parkway has been damaged in past floods, and Gimbel Field and William Gottschalk Field sit along it. Houses near that corridor can take water through a basement wall or floor rather than a pipe, which is waterproofing work first. Our basement waterproofing page explains where a plumber's job ends.
Water in the basement right now?
Shut off the main, keep clear of power, then call. A dispatcher answers any hour.
Signs your house is taking on water or sewage
A floor drain that gurgles in the rain
Bubbling or a rising smell during a storm often means the sewer line is overloaded downstream. Call Aqua's sewer line and ask us to check your own lateral.
A sump pump that never shuts off
A pump that runs for hours after the rain stops is either fighting high groundwater or has a stuck float. Either way it is close to failing.
Damp walls days after the storm
Check the meter. If it keeps moving with every fixture off, the cause is a supply leak and leak detection is the next step.
Slow drains in more than one fixture
A sink, tub and washer all draining slowly points toward the main drain line rather than one trap. Drain cleaning usually starts at the cleanout.
Rust-colored water or weak pressure
In an older house this often points to corroded pipe, especially after a repair elsewhere in the house changed the flow.
What a 1953 median house means for your pipes
Census American Community Survey estimates for 2020 to 2024 put the median Elkins Park home at 1953. Of about 3,139 housing units, roughly 35 percent were built in 1939 or earlier and about 62 percent before 1960. Those are estimates with margins of error, but they tell you what is likely behind your walls.
The oldest houses may still have galvanized steel supply pipe that rusts from the inside, or cast iron and clay drain lines. About 38 percent of units are newer than 1959, so repairs there more often involve copper and plastic. Ask the plumber to name the material on both sides of any repair. A pattern of leaks along one line is the time to ask about repiping.
About 20 percent of Elkins Park units sit in buildings of 50 or more units. In an apartment building the question is which shutoff isolates which riser, and a property manager should know before the emergency. Our commercial plumbing page covers building-scale calls.
Handle it yourself or hand it off during a flood
A wet basement tempts people to start fixing things. Some of that helps and some of it risks a shock or a bigger bill.
Reasonable to do yourself
- Close the main water valve
- Move belongings off the floor
- Photograph every wet surface
- Check that the sump discharge hose is still attached
- Mop standing water away from outlets
Leave to a licensed plumber
- Anything near a wet electrical panel
- Cutting out or replacing pipe
- Clearing the main line beyond the cleanout
- Digging to reach a buried line, which needs a PA One Call to 811 at least three business days ahead
- Work on a gas-fired water heater
Township lines and your address
Check which township your address is in
Elkins Park is a community inside Cheltenham Township. Census data also shows a small part of the 19027 ZIP area overlapping Abington Township land, so tell the dispatcher your street and we will confirm the address. Do not assume Abington Township's rules apply to a Cheltenham address.
For any repair that may need a permit, including a sewer lateral job, ask Cheltenham Township's building department what applies. The township code has required a plumbing permit when a contractor repairs a building sewer, but it was written before Aqua took over the sewers, so ask the township for the current rule.
Reaching Elkins Park from Abington
Abington sits north of Elkins Park along Old York Road (Route 611), which also runs past the Cheltenham Township building at 8230 Old York Road and Salus University at 8360 Old York Road. Church Road (Route 73) is another main road through the area.
The Elkins Park rail stop is at 7879 Spring Avenue. Give the dispatcher a cross street or a landmark such as these, since some addresses near Church Road may carry the Wyncote ZIP, 19095, instead of 19027.
Elkins Park questions we hear from callers
Yes. 19027 is the Elkins Park ZIP and covers the Old York Road corridor, the Church Road and Shoemaker Road area and the streets around the rail stop on Spring Avenue.
19095 is the Wyncote ZIP. Wyncote is the neighboring Cheltenham Township community to the north, and some addresses near Church Road may carry that ZIP. A small part of the 19027 area also overlaps Abington Township land, so tell the dispatcher your street and we will confirm the address.
Yes. Our dispatch line is open around the clock, every day, including nights, weekends and holidays. Call, describe where the water is coming from and give your address, and we will tell you how to shut it off.
We do not promise an arrival time. The dispatcher will tell you whether a same-day appointment is available and will keep you posted if anything changes.
Start with Aqua Pennsylvania's 24/7 sewer line at (877) 987-2782. The township says Aqua now owns and manages the Cheltenham sewer system and asks residents not to call the township for sewer issues.
If Aqua finds the main clear, the blockage is probably in your own lateral or drains, and that is where a plumber comes in. Aqua's tariff makes the lateral the customer's responsibility.
Permits for an Elkins Park house come from Cheltenham Township, not Abington. The township's building and codes office publishes a plumbing permit application, so ask that office whether your particular repair needs one.
We cannot state the rule for every job. Your plumber can confirm it with the township before work begins.
The Montgomery County hazard mitigation plan says a portion of Elkins Park along Church Road and Shoemaker Road floods repeatedly from Tookany Creek. Creek water can enter through a basement wall or floor even when no pipe has failed.
A plumber can test the supply with the water meter, check the sump pump and look for sewer backup. If the water is coming through the foundation, that is a waterproofing problem and we will tell you so.
Aqua's published guidance says the company owns the line from its main to the curb and the customer owns and maintains the part from the curb to the building. Which side a leak is on decides who repairs it.
Call 811 at least three business days before any digging to have buried lines marked. It is free for residential property owners.