You’ve received a notice from Council providing a warning that you may have a water leak as your water use has been excessive over the last metre reading period. 

What should you do? 

There are several reasons that you might have had a marked increase in your water usage, many are simply that you are using more water… 

Perhaps your children are moving into their teenage years and their shower times have increased. Maybe you have recently installed a new swimming pool that requires a regular top-up, planted a new hedge or laid new turf that you have been watering regularly. There are many reasons that your water usage may have increased that shouldn’t concern you. But there is also the possibility that you have a water leak and there is a very simple way to check!

The first step to checking that you have no water leaks is to turn off every single water outlet in your home. Ensure that your washing machine and dishwasher are off, no one is flushing or will flush your toilet, and that every indoor and outdoor tap is turned off tight. Once you have done this, duck outside and take a reading from your water metre, wait 1 hour, ensuring that no one uses any of your taps or toilets during this time, and then take another reading from your water metre. 

If the readings are the same, then you don’t have a water leak, if however your readings differ, then you have a water leak. Now you need to try and narrow down where your leak might be.

First, check if any of your taps or showers are dripping. 

Second, check whether your toilet/s are leaking by holding a piece of scrunched or rolled up toilet paper to the back of your toilet and see if water wicks up it, if it does, you likely have a slow leak of your toilet. 

Lastly, walk around your house, particularly along the path that it appears your water line would follow from the metre to the house, if you notice any areas are particularly green, any grass is noticeably longer or you have any muddy or boggy areas, this is likely the location of your leak. 

Once you have located the likely source of your leak, it’s time to give us a call on 0439 648 390 so we are able to duck out and repair the leak for you. In some instances, once the leak is repaired, we are able to submit a copy of the repair works and a letter to Council that advises that you had an undetectable leak, and they are able to credit a portion of your larger water bill, make sure you check with us to see if this would be applicable for you.