My Water Bill Doubled and Nothing Changed
A bill that jumps with no change in use almost always means water is leaving the system somewhere. Here's how to find out where.
The bill arrives and it's two or three times what it should be. No houseguests, no new sprinkler system, no filled pool. Sometimes there's a note from the utility about continuous usage. This is the most common way Kitsap County homeowners discover an underground leak, and it's also the symptom with the most false alarms, so it pays to work through it in order.
The utility can tell you water passed through the meter. They can't tell you where it went, because their responsibility ends at the meter and everything after it is yours. The job is to find out whether the water is going into the ground on the service line, into a running toilet, or out through an irrigation valve that stuck open, and then fix the one that's actually leaking.
We do this every week. Most of the time the answer is on the buried line between the meter and the house, usually an older material in ground that drains well enough to hide the leak completely. Some of the time it's irrigation. Occasionally it's a toilet. We tell you which, and if it's the buried line, we locate it acoustically and repair it in one visit.
What it usually means
A leak on the buried service line
Galvanized steel from the 1940s, copper from the 60s and 70s, polybutylene from the 80s, brittle early polyethylene: all of it fails eventually, and in Kitsap's till and outwash it can leak for months with no wet spot. The meter test with the house isolated is what reveals it.
Irrigation
A cracked mainline, a valve stuck open, or a drip zone that never shuts off can run a meter all night. Isolate the irrigation at its own shutoff and re-test; it's the culprit more often than people expect, especially in Silverdale, Port Orchard and Bainbridge.
A running toilet
A flapper or fill valve that doesn't seat lets water run silently from tank to bowl. One bad toilet wastes thousands of gallons a month. Food coloring in the tank for fifteen minutes shows it.
Seasonal use you forgot
Compare to the same month last year, not last month. Summer irrigation and a houseful of guests both move the number honestly.
What to check first
- Pull last year's bill for the same month and compare.
- Close every fixture and watch the meter's low-flow indicator for two minutes.
- Close the house main shutoff and watch again: still moving means the buried line.
- Isolate irrigation at its own shutoff and re-test.
- Drop food coloring in each toilet tank and wait fifteen minutes.
When to call
- The meter moves with the house isolated
- The utility has flagged continuous usage
- You can't find the shutoff or the meter box
- You'd rather have the whole thing diagnosed and fixed in one visit
The fix
When it's a buried line or an exterior drain, the fix is high Water Bill Leak Investigation: 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
High water bill, 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
Will the utility reduce the bill?
Could the meter just be wrong?
What fixes it
High Water Bill Leak Investigation
Find out where the water on a surprise bill is actually going, and fix it if it's a buried leak.
Read more →
Underground Water Leak Detection
Acoustic and correlator leak detection that pinpoints a buried water line break before anyone digs.
Read more →
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.