Be a Leak Detective: Save our drinking water, save money
An intermittent drip from your faucet or showerhead can waste more than 35,000 litres of water a year, enough to fill a bathtub over 100 times!
You don’t see any puddles on the floor or under the sink, so you couldn’t have any water leaks, right?
Not so fast.
In fact, while some leaks are easy to spot – like the incessant dripping of a leaky faucet – others require a little more sleuthing.
Why bother? With household leaks accounting for up to 14 per cent of all indoor water use, you’ll be protecting the region’s valuable drinking water. Better yet, once you find the offender, you’ll also be saving money on your water bill.
So in honour of Fix a Leak Week, running March 18 to 24, the Capital Regional District encourages residents to proactively look for leaks in their homes, to reduce the amount of potable water loss in the region. Here’s how to be a leak detective around your home!
To make things easy, the CRD has free Fix a Leak Week kits available to pick up throughout the region, including toilet dye tabs, a bag to measure the flow rate of the showerhead and a leak detection guide. Visit Leak Detection | CRD for participating locations.
Be a Leak Detective:
- Check faucets and toilets for leaks at least once a year to reduce the waste of drinking water. The most common culprits around the home include leaky toilets, faucets, showerheads, service lines and sprinkler systems. If you’re unable to determine the source of the leak, you may need to contact a plumber.
- High-volume water leaks often come from toilets, but are hard to detect. Usually caused by worn or misaligned parts, a toilet that continues to run after flushing could waste 20 to 40 litres per hour – that’s enough water to fill a swimming pool in a year!
Using food colouring, juice crystals or dye tablets is the easiest way to test for a toilet leak: Remove the toilet tank lid and put the tablet or colouring in the tank. Replace the tank lid and wait 15 minutes. If you see coloured water in the toilet bowl, you have a leak that you can fix yourself or call a plumber, depending on your comfort level.
- An intermittent drip from your faucet or showerhead can waste more than 35,000 litres of water a year, enough to fill a bathtub over 100 times! The good news is that repairing the leak is typically easy, with common culprits including worn washers and “o” rings. A leaky showerhead could also need a tighter connection between the showerhead and the pipe system – pipe tape can help secure it.
- A leaking service line or pipe in your home can add up to serious water waste. Always check your water bill for unusual consumption. CRD Water Services customers can learn how to check for overall leaks on their bills.
- Know the location of your main water shut-off in case of an emergency water leak.
Find more tips at Leak Detection | CRD and be a Leak Detective this spring.