There's a Soggy, Green Patch in My Lawn That Won't Dry Out
A patch that stays soft and green through August, or a wet spot with no rain, is usually a buried leak surfacing somewhere other than where the pipe failed.
The rest of the lawn has gone brown for the summer and one patch is lush and soft. Or it's October and one spot squelches when you step on it while everything around it is firm. Sometimes there's actual standing water with no rain to explain it. This is the classic visible sign of an underground water leak, and the single most important thing to understand about it is that the wet spot is almost never over the break.
Kitsap's glacial till has a hardpan layer that water can't penetrate, so water from a leaking pipe travels sideways along the top of the hardpan or along the backfilled pipe trench, which is looser than the undisturbed ground around it. It surfaces wherever that path meets a low spot or a slope. Fifty to a hundred feet from the break is routine. Digging at the wet spot is the most common and most expensive mistake homeowners and landscapers make.
The other thing to know is that not every wet spot is a leak. Tracyton, Manchester, Enetai, Indianola and Bainbridge bluff lots have natural seeps and springs that look exactly like leaks. A drain line discharging, an irrigation lateral, and a perched water table all produce wet spots too. The meter test separates a pressurized leak from everything else in five minutes, and acoustic locating finds the break itself rather than the puddle.
What it usually means
A service line leak surfacing downhill
The pressurized line between the meter and the house has failed, and the water has followed the trench or the hardpan to the nearest low spot. The meter moves with the house isolated.
An irrigation leak
A cracked lateral or a weeping valve wets the ground on watering days. Isolate the irrigation and re-test the meter.
A natural seep or perched water
Common on bluff and hillside lots. No pressurized leak noise, meter doesn't move. A French drain or interceptor drain is the fix if it's a nuisance.
A failed drain line
A crushed downspout or yard drain line discharging into the lawn instead of its outlet. Shows up during and after rain, not in August.
What to check first
- Do the meter test with everything closed, then with the house isolated.
- Note whether the spot is wet in dry weather or only after rain.
- Note whether the spot is downhill of the meter-to-house line's route.
- Don't dig at the spot.
When to call
- The meter moves with the house isolated
- The spot is wet in dry weather
- The spot is near a slope, retaining wall or foundation
- You want it located before anyone puts a shovel in
The fix
When it's a buried line or an exterior drain, the fix is underground Water Leak Detection: we locate first, open the ground once, repair or replace, and put the surface back. One crew, 24 hours a day. (206) 354-9906.
What it looks like when we find it
Soggy lawn spot, town by town
The likely causes shift with the ground, the housing era and the water utility. Pick your community.
Bremerton
The shipyard city's older galvanized lines fail quietly and show up as a wet lawn or a water bill nobody can explain.
Silverdale
The 1980s and 90s subdivision boom around the mall left thousands of polybutylene service lines that are now failing on schedule.
Port Orchard
The county seat's hillside lots and clay soils turn small leaks into slope problems, and long rural runs hide breaks for months.
Poulsbo
Little Norway's mix of century-old downtown lines and fast-draining bay-side outwash means leaks hide well and fail suddenly.
Bainbridge Island
Clay soils and 500-foot driveways make island leaks slow to surface and expensive to guess at, which is why we locate before we dig.
Kingston
Ferry-town acreage with long wooded service runs where a leak can hide under hardpan for an entire winter.
Keyport
A century-old Navy village with short lots, old lines and shoreline clay that keeps everything damp.
Tracyton
Bluff-side lots over Dyes Inlet where seeps and springs make it easy to mistake groundwater for a leak and vice versa.
Hansville
Beach cabins at the tip of the peninsula with shallow lines, high water tables and a long drive for anyone who isn't already in Kitsap.
Indianola
A century-old summer colony where shared lines, easements and bluff clay make leaks a neighborhood puzzle.
Suquamish
Two utilities, mixed-era housing and Agate Pass shoreline clay in the heart of the Port Madison reservation.
Manchester
Rich Passage waterfront lots where the service line runs downhill and every leak finds the beach.
Enetai
East Bremerton's bluff-side neighborhood where mid-century copper lines fail on slopes that drain toward the bay.
Lofall
Rural acreage between Poulsbo and the Hood Canal Bridge where well lines run hundreds of feet through hardpan.
Olalla
Well country at the south end of Kitsap where a leaking line shows up as a pump that won't shut off.
Seabeck
Hood Canal forest parcels where boulders, hardpan and long well lines make guessing at a leak an expensive mistake.
East Port Orchard
South Kitsap's 1970s and 80s subdivisions where copper and poly lines are reaching the end of their run.
Rollingbay
The northeast corner of Bainbridge where clay slopes, long drives and small community systems keep leaks hidden for seasons.
Port Townsend
A Victorian seaport where 1890s service lines sit under historic sidewalks and the gravity pipeline from the Quilcene delivers the water.
Questions
Can I just dig where it's wet?
How long has it been leaking?
What fixes it
Underground Water Leak Detection
Acoustic and correlator leak detection that pinpoints a buried water line break before anyone digs.
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Water Line Repair
Spot repair of a broken or leaking underground water service line, from excavation to restoration.
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Irrigation Leak Detection
Locate and repair buried leaks on irrigation mainlines, laterals and valve boxes without digging up the whole system.
Read more →Something underground isn't right?
We answer 24 hours a day. We locate before we dig, and we handle the whole job with our own crew and equipment.