Did You Have a High Water and Sewer Bill?

You may have had your water running unintentionally non-stop for more than 24 hours. We're noticing some homes in our service area have had water running for long periods of time, so we have notified those customers in their water and sewer bills. Please use the following checklist for water usage both inside and outside the home.

Inside your Home

• Put your hand on the side of the toilet tank. If the tank is cold and sweating and the toilet has not been flushed for a while, you may have a leak.
• Remove the tank lid and squeeze a few drops of food coloring into the back tank. Wait 10 minutes; if color shows up in the bowl the flapper is leaking and needs to be replaced. You can purchase flapper kits at local hardware stores or call a professional to replace the flapper. If you do not have food coloring, contact us for toilet dye tablets.
• Check the water level in the tank by taking off the cover.  The level should be set so it is below the overflow level.
• If you have to jiggle the flush handle on your toilet to get it to stop running, the flush level bar and chain (or the handle itself) may be sticking. There are some flapper kits that also contain replacement flush handles and chains.
• Look for wet, warped or discolored stains on your ceilings, floors, walls and woodwork (such as bottom of your kitchen and bathroom sink cabinets).
• Be sure that the pressure release valve line on your water heater is not dripping.  This would be the line that is perpendicular with the water heater and dumps water into a pan or floor drain.
• Be sure that your humidifier is set correctly to prevent over usage of water. Check the manufacturing directions to see if you can adjust it, or a heating a cooling company may need to make adjustments.

Outside Your Home

• Walk around your home and check your yard to see if there are any saturated spots or very green spots in your yard. These spots may mean a leak in the irrigation line or a leak from the meter to the house. Or the above ground sprinkler is watering an area for too long and may need a timing adjustment.
• Check your sprinkler system for broken heads or broken pipes.
• Check your outside hose bibs to see if they are dripping. If so the valve may not be holding.

We can help you determine whether you might have a leak and we may even be able to help you locate the leak. We just can't fix it for you. Once you have made the repairs, please call Customer Service at 571.291.7880 to schedule a leak check appointment so we can confirm that the leak is gone.