No water is coming out of the faucets.

Try a cold faucet in a different part of the house, ideally the kitchen, since that is usually closest to where the supply comes in. Then check whether a neighbor has water. Then look at your main shut-off valve and check it is fully open. Those three steps take two minutes and they narrow it down to the street, your service line, or something inside the house.

The three answers, and what each means

Neighbors have no water either. It is the utility. Report it, check their outage page, and expect a boil water notice when it comes back if the mains were opened. What to do when the water comes back discolored.

Only your property, and the meter is not turning with a faucet open. Something between the meter and the house, or the valve is closed. That is your service line and your responsibility in most places.

Only one fixture or one part of the house. Not a supply problem at all. A local valve, an aerator, or a frozen or blocked branch.

Work through it in order

1. A second faucet. If one faucet is dry and others run, the problem is that faucet. Check the small isolation valve under the sink, and unscrew the aerator at the spout, which blocks with debris and is the single most common cause of one dead faucet.

2. Cold before hot. If cold runs everywhere but hot does not, the supply is fine and the water heater is the problem. Which is a different sequence.

3. The neighbors. A knock or a message settles it faster than anything else.

4. The main shut-off valve. Where the supply enters the building: a basement wall facing the street, a utility closet or garage on a slab, or outside near the foundation in warm climates. Check it is fully open. Valves get closed for work and not reopened, and a partly open gate valve produces exactly this.

5. The meter, if you have one. Open a faucet, then look at the meter dial. If it is moving, water is reaching the meter and the problem is between there and the house. If it is not moving at all, nothing is arriving.

6. The meter box valve. There is usually a valve in the meter box. If it is closed, do not assume it was an accident: it may have been closed by the utility for non-payment or for a leak. Find out before opening it.

7. In freezing weather, suspect a freeze. No water at all in a cold snap, particularly with a partial loss earlier, usually means a frozen line. What to do, and why the faucet stays open.

8. On a well, it is a different machine entirely. Power, pressure switch, pressure tank, then the pump. The well sequence.

While it is off

• Fill containers from any fixture that still has pressure, before it goes entirely. A bathtub of water is worth having for flushing.
• Flushing a toilet without supply: pour a bucket of water straight into the bowl, fast. It works and it needs no supply.
• Switch off the water heater if the tank may empty, as above.
• Do not run the dishwasher or the washing machine, which will fill partially and stop.
• Turn off an ice maker and any humidifier plumbed into the supply.
• Check on neighbors who may not have realized, particularly anyone elderly.

When it comes back

• Expect air. Faucets will spit and bang. Open the lowest cold faucet first and let it run until it is smooth, then work upward through the house.
• Expect discoloration. Disturbed mains stir up sediment. Which is usually harmless and worth handling properly.
• Check for leaks. Pressure returning to a system that froze finds any split immediately, so walk the house and look at ceilings, under sinks, and in the basement or crawl space.
• Check the water heater before switching it back on, and only once it is full.
• Run the cold faucets for a few minutes before drinking or cooking, and follow any boil water notice exactly.

Who fixes what

The utility owns the main and usually up to and including the meter. You own the service line from there to the house, and everything inside it. That boundary varies locally, and it is worth confirming with a phone call before paying anyone to dig. The same boundary question as a sewer line, and it has the same answer: ask first.

The short version

Second faucet, then the neighbors, then the main valve. Cold running but not hot means the heater rather than the supply. No water in a freeze means a frozen line. Switch the water heater off if the tank may empty, and when it returns bleed the air from the lowest faucet upward and then walk the house looking for leaks.