It started as Sunrise Golf Village
The Iowa developer Norman Johnson bought 2,650 acres in 1960 and founded the village, which had under 350 residents by 1961. It became the City of Sunrise in 1971.
Broward County · line answered right now
Emergency plumbing in Sunrise, and across the utility area it runs
Dispatch takes the address, stays on the line while you find the shut-off, and routes a plumber who knows the Sunrise utility area reaches well past the city limits.
- CFC1433655Florida plumbing contractor license
- Broward Countyon call across all three counties
Why does the Sunrise water utility matter outside Sunrise?
Because it is a regional system rather than a city one. The Sunrise Utilities Department covers about seventy square miles, taking in Sunrise, Southwest Ranches, Weston and parts of Davie, and serves more than 215,000 residential and commercial customers. It runs over 770 miles of water distribution main, more than 500 miles of sewer, 216 wastewater pump stations, three water treatment facilities and three wastewater treatment plants.
That is the reason Davie tells its residents it is served by several utilities and publishes a lookup map instead of a name. For a homeowner in that overlap, the city on the letterhead and the city that owns the pipe are not the same city.
It also changes permitting. An engineering permit is required for water or sewer improvements anywhere inside the Sunrise utility service area, not only inside the city limits.
What is under these houses
A retirement village that turned into a regional utility
Sunrise was 350 people in 1961 and about 50,000 by 1984.
Named against finality
The planned name was Sunset Village, changed because sunset seemed too final for a community being sold to retirees. It is a small detail that tells you exactly who the first houses were built for.
3.5 square miles to 16 in two decades
By 1967 it covered 3.5 square miles with 4,300 residents; by October 1984 the population was around 50,000. That growth straddles the boundary where drain material changed.
Seventy square miles of utility
The city utility serves Sunrise, Southwest Ranches, Weston and parts of Davie: more than 215,000 customers, 770 miles of water main, 216 wastewater pump stations.
Six and a half feet above sea level
Among the lowest cities in Broward, which is why 216 pump stations exist and why an escaping slab leak here travels rather than pools.
How it fails here
The three calls this city generates
What follows from a 1960s and 1970s build on very low ground.
A drain from the original village
The oldest sections date from the first 2,650 acres, which puts them in the cast iron era. The bore roughens from the inside and then catches what should pass, so the clog returns on its own schedule.
Ask for a camera before a third clearing.
Cast iron replacementDamp with nothing above it
At six and a half feet there is no gradient for escaping water to follow. It moves through fill until a seam in the floor lets it up, so the wet patch marks where the floor gave rather than where the pipe did.
Have it located before anything is opened.
Leak detectionA boundary question that crosses a city line
If the address is in Weston, Southwest Ranches or part of Davie, the utility is still Sunrise. Establishing who owns the pipe at the property line is a different answer from who governs the street.
Have the parcel checked before digging.
Sewer line repairWhere we work
The sections of Sunrise, and what changes between them
Sixteen square miles built across two decades and two drain materials.
The original Sunrise Golf Village
The 1960s core on the first 2,650 acres. This is the oldest pipe in the city and it was built for a retirement market, which means small single-story houses on compact plans.
The 1970s and 1980s expansion
Where the city went from 4,300 people to about 50,000, straddling the point where drain material changed from cast iron to PVC. The build date matters more here than the street name.
The Sawgrass corridor
Later commercial and mixed development around the mall from 1990 and the arena from 1998, on a different service pattern and different shut-off arrangements from a house.
Who owns what
Permits, water and sewer in Sunrise
A city utility that is really a regional one.
- Water
- City of Sunrise Utilities, about 70 square milesCovering Sunrise, Southwest Ranches, Weston and parts of Davie, and more than 215,000 customers.
- Sewer
- City of Sunrise UtilitiesOver 500 miles of sewer main, 216 wastewater pump stations and three wastewater treatment facilities.
- Permits
- Community Development, Engineering DivisionAn engineering permit is required for water or sewer improvements anywhere inside the utility service area, not only inside the city.
- Also on this utility
- Weston, Southwest Ranches, part of DavieWhich is why Davie publishes an address lookup rather than naming a single provider.
Reviews
What customers wrote on Google
Real reviews from the company’s own Google Business Profile, quoted with the reviewer’s public name.
5.075 Google reviews
77of the 77 reviews captured from the profile are five stars, and none is below five.
Read straight from the Google Business Profile on August 20, 2026. Counted, not estimated.
Open the Google profileMike came and save me the day he replaced my waterheater after It was flooded all over thanks God there is emergency plumbing SFL BIG RECOMANDATION
Moti gave exceptional service ! He arrived quickly and was done less than an hour ! Will use this company again
Had a really slow drain in my bathroom and it was driving me crazy. The guy who came out was super chill and found a bunch of hair and gunk clogging it up. He cleared it out in like 20 minutes, and now it’s draining faster than before! …
Questions
Sunrise, specifically
I live in Weston. Why is my water from Sunrise?
Because the Sunrise utility is regional rather than municipal. It covers about seventy square miles taking in Sunrise, Southwest Ranches, Weston and parts of Davie, so the city that governs your street and the city that owns your water main are often different.
Does work on my water line need a Sunrise permit?
If the address is inside the Sunrise utility service area, an engineering permit is required for water or wastewater improvements even when the property is not inside the city limits. That is the part that catches people out.
My house is from the original village. What is under it?
Cast iron drain lines, as the working assumption. The first sections date from the early 1960s and were built as a retirement community, so they are compact single-story plans at the older end of the material change.
Why so many pump stations?
Because the ground is low and flat. At around six and a half feet above sea level, gravity does not move sewage far on its own, which is why the utility runs 216 wastewater pump stations across its area.
Nearby
The cities either side of this one
Three of these are on the Sunrise utility.
Live dispatch · 24 / 7 / 365
Something wrong in Sunrise right now?
A person answers at any hour, walks you through shutting the water off, and a plumber is routed to the address.
No obligation. Work performed under Florida plumbing contractor license CFC1433655.