The city recently had some road work done in front of my house. As part of the project, they were reshaping a drainage swale that crosses my property. Their heavy equipment (backhoe and trackhoe) made many trips across my front yard near the water meter and across where my water line runs.
The city engineers had contacted me beforehand, and I agreed verbally that they could proceed with their planned work. They did a good job, and I'm pleased with the way it looks.
BUT.....
Our water usage has been averaging around 4400 gallons a month for the past year or so. The first bill that came after they started working showed it had increased to 5600 gallons. The bill that came early this week showed it had gone up to 7500 gallons. That's roughly 100 gallons a day extra.
Since the sewer charge is based on the water usage, the latest water/sewer bill was about $9 higher than our previous average. That's about 30 cents a day, which is nothing to get excited about.
Of course, there's no visual indication of where the leak might be, but the timing suggests that it's somewhere near where they were working. I've got a shutoff valve next to the meter and another one about halfway between the meter and the house. I've isolated the leak to the part of the line that's closest to the meter, but that section is about 120 feet long. Their equipment was only working within the 30 feet closest to the meter.
An aggravating factor is that the water line runs next to and crosses all the other utilities where they were working, so it's not a simple job to dig the line up.
The city sent some people out, but they haven't decided what to do. They were talking about getting an audio sensor tool to try to locate the leak, but they weren't sure it would pick up a leak that small.
I simply cannot justify either the city or me spending a lot of money on this right now. I've got much better things to do than chase down a leak that's only costing me 30 cents a day, and I'm sure they do, too.
On the other hand, it's probably their fault, and I shouldn't have to pay an extra $9 a month.
The thing that worries me is that they might find the leak has nothing to do with them working around the meter box, and want me to pay an enormous bill for whatever they do looking for the leak.
What do you think I should do or ask them to do?
The city engineers had contacted me beforehand, and I agreed verbally that they could proceed with their planned work. They did a good job, and I'm pleased with the way it looks.
BUT.....
Our water usage has been averaging around 4400 gallons a month for the past year or so. The first bill that came after they started working showed it had increased to 5600 gallons. The bill that came early this week showed it had gone up to 7500 gallons. That's roughly 100 gallons a day extra.
Since the sewer charge is based on the water usage, the latest water/sewer bill was about $9 higher than our previous average. That's about 30 cents a day, which is nothing to get excited about.
Of course, there's no visual indication of where the leak might be, but the timing suggests that it's somewhere near where they were working. I've got a shutoff valve next to the meter and another one about halfway between the meter and the house. I've isolated the leak to the part of the line that's closest to the meter, but that section is about 120 feet long. Their equipment was only working within the 30 feet closest to the meter.
An aggravating factor is that the water line runs next to and crosses all the other utilities where they were working, so it's not a simple job to dig the line up.
The city sent some people out, but they haven't decided what to do. They were talking about getting an audio sensor tool to try to locate the leak, but they weren't sure it would pick up a leak that small.
I simply cannot justify either the city or me spending a lot of money on this right now. I've got much better things to do than chase down a leak that's only costing me 30 cents a day, and I'm sure they do, too.
On the other hand, it's probably their fault, and I shouldn't have to pay an extra $9 a month.
The thing that worries me is that they might find the leak has nothing to do with them working around the meter box, and want me to pay an enormous bill for whatever they do looking for the leak.
What do you think I should do or ask them to do?
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