Last reviewed and updated: 2026-09-28
East Worthington is an established residential neighborhood on Marietta's eastern side. Its housing sits in the band where the two classic Cobb County plumbing problems overlap: copper run under slabs in the older stock, and polybutylene supply pipe in anything built from the late 1970s onward.
Which one you have determines everything about how the leak will behave, copper fails slowly and gives you warning; polybutylene does not.
Polybutylene: the Cobb County problem pipe
Polybutylene supply pipe was installed widely across Georgia between roughly 1978 and 1995, which covers a large share of Cobb County housing. It is gray indoors, sometimes blue for exterior runs, and often stamped PB2110.
It degrades from the inside out. Oxidants in treated municipal water attack the pipe wall and the acetal fittings, micro-fractures form internally where nobody can see them, and the pipe or fitting eventually lets go, with no weeping, no gradual drip, no warning at all. Polybutylene leak detection starts by identifying the pipe at the water heater.
That matters twice over. There are no early symptoms to act on, and a system that has produced one failure has been exposed to identical conditions everywhere else. Check at the water heater, under sinks and at the main shut-off. If you find it, the conversation is usually about the whole system rather than the single failure point.
Supply leak or drain leak: the timing test
One observation you can make yourself narrows the problem in half, and it costs nothing.
A supply line is pressurized all the time, so a supply leak runs constantly, day and night, whether anyone is home or not. A drain line only carries water while something is draining, so a drain leak appears in the minutes after a shower, a bath, a dishwasher or a washing-machine cycle, and then stops.
That distinction decides which equipment is used. Pressurized leaks are found acoustically, by listening for the hiss of escaping water through concrete or soil. Drain leaks make almost no sound at all, so they are diagnosed with a camera inspection, smoke testing or a hydrostatic test instead. Tell us which pattern you are seeing and the visit gets considerably shorter.
The water heater and the things around it
A surprising share of "mystery leaks" turn out to be the water heater or its fittings, and it is worth ruling out early because it is visible and accessible.
Check the drain pan underneath, the temperature and pressure relief valve and its discharge pipe, and the connections at the top of the tank. A relief valve that is weeping discharges continuously into the drain line, which is metered, invisible and easy to mistake for something far worse.
The heater is also the best place in the house to identify your pipe material, because the supply lines are exposed there. Gray flexible plastic stamped PB2110 is polybutylene; rigid dull-orange metal is copper; dull gray threaded metal is galvanized steel. Two minutes with a torch tells you more about your plumbing than anything else you can do.
Not sure what you are hearing?
Describe the sound, the damp patch or the bill and we will tell you what it usually means in a Marietta home and what it takes to confirm it.
Buying or selling a house here
A leak changes a transaction, and it is far cheaper to know before contracts than after.
For a buyer, the two things worth establishing are the pipe material and the condition of the sewer lateral. Polybutylene routinely comes up at inspection, can affect insurance and financing in some cases, and gets priced into offers. A camera inspection of the lateral is inexpensive relative to a collapsed line under a mature front garden, particularly on an older property with big trees.
For a seller, a known leak is disclosable. Having it located and documented, with a written report and an invoice, is a considerably stronger position than a buyer's inspector finding damp of unknown origin and everyone assuming the worst.
Which water utility bills you here
Most addresses outside the City of Marietta utility service area are billed by Cobb County Water System, which allows a partial leak credit once per rolling 12-month period across no more than two affected months, with proof of repair required. A Marietta mailing address does not by itself make you a city utility customer, the name printed on your bill is what settles it.
Local notes
Ten minutes with a torch will tell you which you are dealing with. Look at the pipe entering the water heater, under the kitchen and bathroom sinks, and at the main shut-off valve. Gray flexible plastic, often stamped PB2110, is polybutylene. Rigid, dull-orange metal is copper. That single observation changes the whole conversation about what to do next.
Frequently asked questions
How do I tell if I have polybutylene or copper?
Look at the water heater, under the sinks and at the main shut-off. Gray flexible plastic pipe, often stamped PB2110, is polybutylene. Rigid dull-orange metal is copper. Blue plastic on exterior runs is frequently polybutylene too.
Which fails with more warning, copper or polybutylene?
Copper. It corrodes gradually and usually weeps from a pinhole for weeks before anything becomes obvious, so the water bill climbs first. Polybutylene fails suddenly at the fittings with no weeping and no warning at all.
Is a rising water bill always a leak?
Not always, filling a pool, a changed irrigation schedule, guests or pressure washing all explain a spike. The meter test separates usage from leaks: if the low-flow indicator moves with everything switched off, it is a leak.