 Checking
for water leaks
Do
you have high water bills you cannot explain, or
a patch of grass that is
always wet or green despite the weather or infrequent watering?
Leaking water in your home may not always be in an obvious place. For example,
you may have a leak in your pipes. And a leaking
pipe can waste about 95,000 litres
of water a month, that’s enough to do 500 loads of laundry.
To
see if you have a leak, follow these four simple
steps:
- Locate your water meter, usually
in the front yard or at the side of the house. They
are above ground with a metal or plastic lid.
- Choose
a day when no-one is at home for a couple of hours,
i.e. when everyone is at work or
on a family outing.
- Ask the last person leaving
the house to check the water meter and record
the current level
of water use, making sure no appliances
such as washing
machines
and dishwashers have been left running. The meter reads from left to
right – black
digits show the kilolitres (1,000 litres) and
the red digits show the number of single litres
used.
- Then
ask the first person to return home to do the
same. If the numbers have
changed, you will most likely have a leak.
- The
severity of the
leak can be
determined by how much water has been used while you were gone.
- If you notice a change,
contact a local plumber for their advice. Reading
your meter reader regularly will show how much water you
use and help detect
leakages early.
Cleaning cars and boats
See how you can keep
these gleaming while abiding by
water restrictions
Return to
our main water news section
Page last updated: 16/10/2006 |
