My friend had some kind of washer hose burst in his house when he was away for the weekend. The damage was minimal (it was in his unfinished basement) but the water company, detecting a large amount of water being used, came by and shut his water off.
"Oh but that's different" - not really. Same thing would have happened if my friend was intentionally trying to fill his basement with water.
Well it was a couple years ago, but I do remember specifically that they didn't even call him. He actually realized there was no water before he discovered that his basement was damp and eventually figured it out. It could be that they knocked on his door, and; receiving no answer, assumed it was a leak.
Anyway this would be an easy question to answer if someone called a water utility and asked.
I was cleaning and fixing up a house after its owner had died. One of the first things I did was arrange to get the water turned back on, but it took two tries, because the first time the man who connected it turned it back off because water was running immediately--I had not closed the valve to the water heater which started filling.
(not relevant to the article, but...) when you fill a pool, generally you call the water company and they'll hook a meter to a fire hydrant. This will fill a lot faster then a 1" home service, and you also won't be charged for sewer as well as the water. This can save significant money, since, at least where I live, sewer fees are about 8x the actual water cost.
"Oh but that's different" - not really. Same thing would have happened if my friend was intentionally trying to fill his basement with water.