Need a sprinkler guy or plumber

[KBScobravert]

...and the water company just said the mess is on their end. But that still won't explain the high water bill only the mess in my yard. And now I get to battle them to get the mess fixed.

It took my neighbor driving over to the water companies office and standing in front of them to get someone out this morning. Luckily he is on the board of members for our HOA and they recognized him.

[Sgt Beavis]

Ok, good that your sprinkler isn't leaking but did you ever check the leak detector gauge?

On your water meter, there should be a little red gear. It should spin pretty fast when a faucet is turned on in the house. When ALL of the faucets are turned off it should be dead still. It will move very slightly if you have a leak somewhere.

Besides the sprinkler system, you should check the toilets. Even a very slow leak adds up in a month.

[KBScobravert]

Oh we got problemz alright. The water company is about to tear up my yard

If you look at the corner of my fence the water cuts across and follows my fence line all the way to the other neighbors house.


This ought to cause some unwanted drama in our lives. The high water bill was just a coincidence. The water company hires a dude to come out and read the meters right? Well he may be getting paid but he ain't reading no fucking meters. We had zero usage for 4 months then some random numbers then a one time accurate reading that netted us a 98,000 gallon month (last month). So far for the month of November we have only used 1,600 gallons.

Times like this I wished I lived on city water and not some co-op water well managed by a company in PA.

[Lone Sailor]

Unfortunately the yard is going to get torn up whether the water company fixes it or you hire a contractor to fix it. If they are going to pay to have it fixed then I would just roll with the fact that the yard is going to get torn up.

As far as the fence, they should be able to dig under then fence without disturbing it, IF it is even necessary to dig up the portion of the line under the fence. The leak may be traveling down stream and the portion of the line under the fence is just fine.

As far as the water bill, you can go to the owner(Co-op, etc) and ask them to justify the water usage, especially with the water problem at hand that they are obviously very aware of. If you don't like the answers you get then go to one of their meetings(and take as many neighbors as you can get to go with you) and express your displeasure of completely inaccurate and outrageous readings and water bills and the fact that no one will even give you the time of day to listen to your complaints. Eventually someone will listen to you, you just have to find the right setting.

Unless they have electronic meter reading there is a huge risk of inaccurate readings due to human error. The person that reads the meter hand writes the number, then another person takes that list and plugs those numbers into a computer and can transpose or mistakenly hit a number key too many times, then the billing department invoices you for the gallons of water you used, but in most cases they are also suppose to recheck any readings that look obviously out of whack. Most of the smaller co-ops and water utilities look the other way on this because of having fewer employees(not enough people for checks and balances) due to cutting costs and laying people off. You still have a leg to stand on. keep your head up and keep fighting, you're not alone.

[KBScobravert]

Unfortunately the yard is going to get torn up whether the water company fixes it or you hire a contractor to fix it. If they are going to pay to have it fixed then I would just roll with the fact that the yard is going to get torn up.

As far as the fence, they should be able to dig under then fence without disturbing it, IF it is even necessary to dig up the portion of the line under the fence. The leak may be traveling down stream and the portion of the line under the fence is just fine.

As far as the water bill, you can go to the owner(Co-op, etc) and ask them to justify the water usage, especially with the water problem at hand that they are obviously very aware of. If you don't like the answers you get then go to one of their meetings(and take as many neighbors as you can get to go with you) and express your displeasure of completely inaccurate and outrageous readings and water bills and the fact that no one will even give you the time of day to listen to your complaints. Eventually someone will listen to you, you just have to find the right setting.

Unless they have electronic meter reading there is a huge risk of inaccurate readings due to human error. The person that reads the meter hand writes the number, then another person takes that list and plugs those numbers into a computer and can transpose or mistakenly hit a number key too many times, then the billing department invoices you for the gallons of water you used, but in most cases they are also suppose to recheck any readings that look obviously out of whack. Most of the smaller co-ops and water utilities look the other way on this because of having fewer employees(not enough people for checks and balances) due to cutting costs and laying people off. You still have a leg to stand on. keep your head up and keep fighting, you're not alone.

You know now that I can say with 100% certainty that WE do not have a leak nor have we ever I am fine with paying the $360 for 98,000 gallons if that is what brings the meter current and it did at the time it was read earlier this month. I am just ticked off at the innaccurate or no readings at all. I also blame my wife (and if anyone shows her this thread I will deny it, lol) for not noticing all the 0 gallon uses for the month, in the summer, when we water 3 times a week with 22 stations. I don't know what she was thinking but I know that I paid that damn bill this month for her. Their last reading on the bill is on par with what the meter reads today and at one point we did use the water we just did not have to pay for it then. Kind of like water on credit.

I talked to my neighbor and he said he looked at the water pipe plotter and there is not a line that runs that length of the fence. All the water in our backyard is from it not draining towards the road like designed. So we may just have to live with the wetness in the yard until it dries up.

Leak will be fixed on Monday, so they say.

Thanks for the response.