Check your water bills regularly to make sure you don’t have a leak

It was upsetting to deal with possible leak in the water pipe that goes from my house to the meter box near the street. I had a repair made in 2019 for a leak and I didn’t know if that repair had failed or, since my home is about 45 years old, the water pipes were splitting due to age. Plastic pipes have a life span of about 50 years.

The city notice

On Saturday, March 11 at 4:20 p.m., I received a letter from the city indicating I might have a leak from my water pipes. I was furious. There’s nothing that you can do on the weekend to try to figure out what to do about the problem.

I tried to read the meter but couldn’t figure it out. I had to dig out loose dirt out from the meter box because moles had been disturbing the ground in the area.

I could see that the city had been there to physically read the meter because clots of dirt from the underside of the lid were sitting on the lawn.

On Sunday, I began making calls and sending emails. My regular plumber, Springer Plumbing, wasn’t available on the weekend or on Monday, so I asked for a referral. They recommended Olympic Plumbing Technology and Olympic indicated they could come Tuesday. However, they were able to come earlier on Monday afternoon.

Two Olympic plumbers looked around the inside and outside of my home and didn’t see any leaks. They had trouble reading the meter, because the black box on the meter was blank. I called the city and was able to talk to a technician. He said that the city usually puts a door hanger on someone’s door when a water leak is suspected. He asked the rate of the leak. I said that wasn’t included in the letter. He said it usually is. As we were talking, one of the plumbers from Olympic came in with a question, so I had him talk to the city technician.

After the plumber figured out how to read the meter, he said on an invoice that the leak, according to the city, was 26,500 gallons a month and the hole was 1/16 inch, which meant the pipe was leaking ½ gallon a minute.

The plumber said they could dig a hole where the previous leak was and another hole by the water meter to get more information. Since Olympic doesn’t have underground pipe leak detection equipment, I was able to get a hold of Jones Underground, and Justin said he’d be able to come out Tuesday. I opted to hire Jones because that would give more information. In addition, Jones could install new water pipes, too.

Olympic charged $354 for the work the plumbers did.

Jones Underground first visit

Justin came out Tuesday after work. I thought he was going to use his equipment to look for the leak, but he said he’d work me in Wednesday after 5 p.m. I showed him the area where the last leak was and described the problem.

After making location marks in white paint on my driveway, Justin said others would be coming out to mark the location of utilities.

Complaint to the city

On Wednesday, March 15, I called the city to complain about the fact that I was sent a letter instead of getting contacted sooner. I was really concerned about possible huge charges because the city has a one-time arbitration policy for leaks. I had already used arbitration for a leak that occurred in 2019, so I wouldn’t qualify to use it again.

The first person I talked to said it was routine to send a letter. I asked that my bill be reduced by one quarter since I was sent a letter instead of being contacted sooner. I asked to speak to the person’s supervisor.

The supervisor was rude. She said there was nothing that could be done about reducing my bill. She said I should have noticed in December that my bill was going up. She said a city employee went out and knocked on my door, but there was no answer. I told her I was going to write to the city manager and the mayor. She said city manager was retiring in April, which I knew. I got the idea that I could call him, so I left him a message.

Digging a hole

Also on Wednesday, I had my yard work helper dug a hole where the last leak was. He dug pretty deep, but we didn’t find the leaking pipe.

Justin called and said he was stuck in traffic coming back from Tacoma. He said he wouldn’t be coming over on Wednesday, but would come after work on Thursday

Second visit from Jones Underground

Justin came after 5 p.m. He said since I was going to have the pipe replaced, he didn’t need to use his underground leak detection equipment. It would cost $500 to do that inspection. I said I’d pay $500 because I wanted to know if the former repair failed or if I had a new leak somewhere. I showed him the photo of the previous repair in a hole. He said I had plastic pipes. I showed him the invoice from Olympic that said the city indicated the leak is 26,500 gallons a month, the hole is 1/16 inch, which is leaking ½ gallon a minute.

He used a long thin pole and earphones for about 10 minutes. He said he heard whooshing near the faucet on the house and by where the last leak was. He said he was curious now about the hole, and he dug out about as much dirt as Deane had dug out before. He dug toward the tree, and water began coming out indicating the leak was in the same place as the previous leak. He threw dirt over the water that was beginning to puddle. He said he didn’t want the water to begin to spirt up and run down the driveway. I told Justin I wanted polyethylene pipes and fittings with no lead. I gave him two articles I’d found on pipes with the least toxins.

Justin said he could do the job Saturday, and it would cost $4,000 plus tax to put in new piping from the meter near the street to my house.

Justin called Thursday and said he would come on Sunday instead of Saturday.

Invoice

I received the invoice on Saturday from Jones Underground. It said poly pipes would be used. I called Justin to doublecheck that the pipes would be polyethylene not something else. I especially didn’t want PVC pipes. He said the pipes will be polyethylene and the fittings will be no-lead brass.

The water was continuing to puddle in the hole dug next to the previous leak.

Worried the $4,000 bid might be high, I asked another company what they’d charge. The answer? $6,000.

Replacing the water pipe

Jones Underground came at 9 a.m. on Sunday, March 19, as promised.

Justin dug in the hole where the repair was made until he found the pipe.

He had his helper turn the water on by the water meter and we could see it spirting from the pipe.

His helper dug a large hole near the meter.

Then they dug another hole by where the water comes in the house.

They put a wire through the current pipe, which was attached to the new pipe.

Using the Bobcat, they pulled the wire and the new pipe through, bursting the old pipe.

Justin gave me the old, failed repair, which was done in 2019.

Jones Underground did a great job replacing the leaking pipe.

And they did a good job filling in the holes and spraying on grass seed where the grass had been dug up. I didn’t even have to go out and make sure they put everything back correctly.

I’m glad I chose to have the pipe replaced. I could have had other splits in the older pipe even if the repair had been made correctly this time.

I’m not going after the plumber who made the repair in 2019. He never offered a warranty on any of his work. He’d come and “fix” something, and when the repair didn’t work, he’d charge me again when he came back to redo it. That’s why I fired him and I don’t want him on my property again. In addition, it’s been more than three years since the repair was made, and contracts, mine unwritten, usually expire in three years.

The city manager

I appreciated hearing from the city manager, who I knew when I worked for state government and he worked for a different city. He said he’d check into the procedures for how the letters are sent and talk to the utility supervisor who’d been rude to me.

My bill

I’m waiting anxiously to see what my bill will be for the leak.

I called the city and was told my water bill for January was $74.52. At least it wasn’t hundreds of dollars. That compares to $57.66 for December, $30.28 for November, and $20.36 for October.

My bills for water use shouldn’t be going up during the winter because I’m not watering my vegetable garden and lawn.

The repair was made March 19, so hopefully I won’t get a bill for hundreds of dollars. If I do get a huge bill, I’ll take the city to small claims court. The utility department should have a better procedure for notifying customers about possible leaks. Sending a letter in the mail is a poor, ineffective procedure.

Update 1: My bill for February was $84.33, and for March it was $80.52. I sure hope my bill goes down for April, since the repair was made on March 19. If it doesn’t go down, something else may be wrong.

Update 2: Finally, I called and the city said my bill for water for April is $18.45. Yay. At last, my water bill is back to normal. Thanks again to Jones Underground for coming on a Sunday to make the repair. It’s been a long and worrisome project.

Comments

[Jennifer]

Yikes! That was a long time to wait and get a repair for leaking water. And you're right. That is such an ineffective way to notify people of a leak. Why not call people? Most people have voicemail or answering machines. And then follow it up with a letter to be efficient.

[Meryl]

So much of your time taken up. A frustrating endeavor, but glad the leak was finally fixed. And hopefully no huge bill to pay.

[Rita]

Months and months my bill was increasing. I'm glad the city manager called so I could complain.

[Laurie Stone]

Oh no. There's nothing worse than a sudden, awful bill on something no fun like a water tank. Hope the final tally isn't too bad.

[Rebecca Forstadt Olkowski]

So sorry you had to go through that. My landlady/friend from high school has been dealing with roof repairs on her properties and it gets so expensive.

[Rita]

Yes, repairs can be expensive when you're a homeowner. But, you need to do what you have to do to maintain your property. My bills are still $30 to $50 up, so hopefully next month, they'll be back down.

[Carol Cassara]

This absolutely happened to us, so good advice for everyone.

[Rita]

I guess it's common for older pipes to spring leaks.