Sam Sharpe has been trying to get the council to fix the leaking toby outside his home in Langham Tce, Northeast Valley, since September.
The council refused, insisting the toby was on a privately owned pipe and Mr Sharpe needed to pay for a plumber to fix it.
Mr Sharpe refused, arguing the pipe was under a private right-of-way not owned by him or any neighbour.
The standoff threatened to escalate last month, when the council advised Mr Sharpe and his neighbours a water restriction device could be installed if the leak was not fixed by October 26.
Yesterday, Mr Sharpe said the council had failed to act on the threat — but he had.
Armed with insulation tape and advice from a "handy" friend, Mr Sharpe had dug out the toby, removed the tap at the top and taped up the leaking section himself.
The fault appeared to be in the top section of the tap, meaning the high-pressure water from the council’s water main did not need to be turned off before removing the tap, he said.
The leak had stopped, at least for now, although Mr Sharpe said he was not sure how long his patch-up job would hold.
"There’s no more water coming out of it. When it’s dry, it’s dry. I hope it does hold.
"In no way am I qualified to be doing any of these jobs," he said.
He said the pressure on his neighbours had forced him to act, but he was not worried about the council’s response to his actions.
"If it’s nothing to do with them, surely it doesn’t matter who fixes it."
Asked for comment, a DCC spokeswoman said: "We don’t have anything to add on this issue."
