A leak adjustment is a financial adjustment to water and/or waste water (sewer) usage charges on a customer's bill caused by a leak on the customer's side of the meter.
Eligibility:
- When a leak occurs in the water system on customer's property beyond the curb-box (turn on/off valve in front of house/building) and where water is metered and consumed, the customer may be eligible for a one-time adjustment on the customer's water and sewer charge.
- The plumbing leak must have been resolved by the customer with proof of both leak and the repair, which may include but not be limited to:
- Photographs
- Repair bills/invoices
- Leaks due to theft, vandalism or construction damage are not covered, and are the responsibility of the account holder.
Requirements:
- The customer is responsible for submitting a Leak Adjustment Application no later than 30 days after the billing statement date first indicating the irregular water usage. A physical or online bill must be received before applying.
- The customer may submit one Leak Adjustment Application within a rolling twelve (12) month time period.
- Payments must continue to be made on the account in an amount equal to the prior quarter's balance until the City's Customer Service department makes a determination whether customer is eligible for a Leak Adjustment.
- If the account is delinquent and/or in default of payment plan agreement, the customer is not eligible to apply until the account is resolved.
City of Ann Arbor Review:
- The City will review the usage patterns using meter reading data. Irregular usage must be at least twice as much as comparative quarter.
- The City will also review account notes, if any, related to the leak.
- The City will consider the documentation provided by the customer regarding the leak and completed repair.
- If the application is approved, the customer may receive an account credit or adjustment on the water and sewer charge. This will be determined by calculating the percentage of excess water used during the leak period, and comparing it to a two week period after the leak is repaired. This percentage will give us an adjusted unit amount that water will be billed at tier 1 and the totals units of sewer to be billed.
Aquahawk Monitoring System
Aquahawk is a free, online water usage monitoring tool that must be registered for upon submitting a Leak Adjustment Application. This tool will allow the customer to view and track water consumption, along with setting alerts for high usage or potentially high water bills.
How much water can be lost from a leak? The following list illustrates how much water is wasted from a continuous leak over a 3-month (quarterly) period.
1/4 inch leak - 1,181,499 gallons per quarter at 60 PSI pressure Example: This is enough to fill nearly 2 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
3/16 inch leak - 666,000 gallons per quarter at 60 PSI pressure Example: This could supply a family of four with water for over 4 years.
1/8 inch leak - 296,000 gallons per quarter at 60 PSI pressure Example: This is equivalent to taking about 4,933 eight-minute showers.
1/16 inch leak - 74,003 gallons per quarter at 60 PSI pressure Example: This could fill about 1,480 standard bathtubs.
A toilet running continuously amounts to the following amount of wasted water:
210 gallons per hour Example: This is like flushing a standard toilet 70 times every hour.
5,040 gallons per day Example: This could fill a 12x24 foot backyard swimming pool in just one day.
35,280 gallons per week Example: This is enough water to do 705 loads of laundry in an efficient washing machine.
151,200 gallons per month (based on a 30-day month) Example: This could provide drinking water for over 400 people for an entire month.
453,600 gallons per quarter Example: This is enough to irrigate a football field with an inch of water about 14 times.
