The water key I used was indeed purchased at a local store. The wierd thing was that, just in my county, the stop-box is mine and not theirs. It should have been a simple matter of the plumber turning it off himself, but when that first plumber made a big deal of it, I didn't even bother trying it myself. He had insisted the thing needed to be dug up, so I thought I wouldn't be able to get to it. As it was, I could barely get the tool onto the valve, due to the dirt in the shaft, and other little problems.
