Plumbing in Highland Park starts with the water system as much as the house. This city of 8,977 people, set inside Detroit’s borders, has bought its water from outside since November 2012, and the local mains that carry it are old enough that the city is replacing them street by street. The census puts the median home at 1944, and nearly half went up in 1939 or earlier, while the Ford plant on Woodward drew workers here. Old mains, old service lines and old basements on a combined sewer are the backdrop for most calls.
New water mains on Hamilton Avenue after the 2012 plant closure
In November 2012 the state determined that Highland Park’s water treatment plant was creating a public health risk and asked Detroit’s water department to supply the city temporarily. The plant was never repaired. Highland Park has bought its water from Detroit and then GLWA ever since, and a long dispute with GLWA over water and sewer charges followed. A state-brokered deal in October 2023 led to a funding bill, signed that December, that dismissed GLWA’s lawsuit and a $24 million judgment and committed state money to the city’s water system.
GLWA reports that a city-run leak study found a 69 percent water loss rate in the local system, and reporting in 2019 put the city’s water infrastructure at about 100 years old. In July 2023 the city received a little more than $10 million from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund for mains and lead service lines. Its June 2025 plan lists Phase One as 2.49 miles of main and 138 lead service lines on John R, Brush, Tennyson and Oakland Park Boulevard, and Phase Two as about a mile of main on Hamilton Avenue. Tap sampling exceeded the federal lead action level in 2019; later results were within limits, and the city must still replace at least 5 percent of its lead lines each year. Inside the houses, Ford-boom homes often still have cast iron stacks, clay laterals and galvanized supply pipe, draining to a combined sewer that GLWA says Highland Park shares with Detroit.
Plumbing most needed in Highland Park’s prewar houses
- Main water line repair
If the line between the curb stop and your meter leaks, or the valve at the meter won’t close, that pipe often dates from the house itself.
- Galvanized pipe replacement
Homes built before 1940 often still have galvanized water piping, and rust narrows it until the upstairs fixtures barely run, even after a new main reaches your curb.
- Leak detection and repair
In a system that loses most of its water to leaks, a wet spot in the yard could be the public main or your service, and finding which comes first.
- Sewer line repair and inspection
The city treats sewer work from the sidewalk to the house or backyard as a plumbing permit, so a lateral repair starts with a camera and that permit.
- Backwater valve installation
Highland Park’s sewer is combined like Detroit’s, so storm flow and sewage share the pipe your floor drain empties into, and a valve on a sound lateral keeps that surge out.
- Plumbing for landlords and property managers
With 56 percent of occupied homes rented, many calls here come from landlords who need tenant access arranged and the scope of work on a prewar rental written down before a wall is opened.
Hoover, Mound and the Davison from Stephens Rd
From our office we take Hoover Road south to 9 Mile, head west to Mound Road and take Mound down to the Davison Freeway, which runs west through the middle of Highland Park. It’s one of the farther points we cover, so we schedule visits with other work that way and say on the phone where yours falls.
In the basement we look first at the water meter and the pipe coming through the wall, because its material tells us a lot, then the floor drain and cleanout. Our guide on how to tell if you have galvanized pipes shows the same checks. The Building Department holds plumbing inspections on Monday and Wednesday mornings, so we plan any dig around those days.
Highland Park landmarks between Woodward and McNichols
- Robert B. Blackwell Municipal Building, 12050 Woodward Avenue, home to city hall, the Building Department and the water department.
- Highland Park Ford Plant, 91 Manchester at Woodward, where Ford opened its first assembly line in 1913. A National Historic Landmark since 1978.
- Davison Freeway, opened in 1944 as the country’s first modern depressed urban freeway.
- McNichols Road, the northern city line, where two new master meters sit at Hamilton and at John R.
- Medbury’s–Grove Lawn Subdivisions Historic District along Puritan Avenue.
GLWA has said Highland Park had no wholesale meters at its connections, so its usage was estimated. The new master meters measure what actually flows in, one more reason a slow leak anywhere inside the city line is worth fixing. A third vault sits at Hamilton and Webb. At the house level, the matching pieces are the curb stop in the lawn strip and the valve at your basement meter. If either won’t close, that’s worth fixing before main work reaches your street.
Getting to our office from Highland Park
From Highland Park, take the Davison Freeway east to Mound Road, Mound north across 8 Mile to 9 Mile Road, then 9 Mile east to Hoover Road and Hoover north to Stephens Rd; our office is just west of Hoover.
11355 Stephens Rd, Warren, MI 48089
Get directions to our Warren officeHighland Park plumbing questions
Where does Highland Park’s water come from now?
From GLWA, the regional authority that took over Detroit’s water system. Highland Park’s own plant has been shut since November 2012. The city’s water department at 12050 Woodward handles billing, the main replacement map and the online service line inventory, which lists the pipe material on record for each property.
Will the new water main fix low pressure in my Highland Park house?
No, not unless the main was the problem. A new main improves flow to the curb, but corroded galvanized pipe inside a prewar house still chokes it. If pressure fades at the far fixtures, the house piping is the likely cause and galvanized pipe replacement is the usual fix.
Have a plumbing problem in Highland Park? Tell us the address and what's happening.
(207) 419-2600Near Highland Park
- Plumber in HamtramckNext door at Hamtramck’s northwest corner, with 780 lead lines replaced in 2025
- Plumber in DetroitSurrounds Highland Park on the same combined sewer setup
- Plumber in FerndaleNorth up Woodward at 8 Mile, with mostly prewar houses
- Wayne CountyThe county’s combined sewers and the 2014 and 2021 storms
See every city we serve around Warren · More Wayne County cities · How to tell if your house still has galvanized pipes · How to find and shut off your main water valve
Last updated October 25, 2026