Port Orchard · Kitsap County

High water bill in Port Orchard, WA

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.

Call (206) 354-9906 How we fix it

Two water meter box lids exposed beneath a pine tree after clearing brush

360 Leak Finders handles high water bill across Port Orchard, from Sedgwick Road to Long Lake. Water comes from the City of Port Orchard or West Sound Utility District, the private line is the owner's, and on long rural driveways toward Sunnyslope it runs through slick Kitsap Formation clay on the hillsides. Here's how we sort out what's actually going on.

The likely causes here

Start with a running toilet. A flapper or fill valve that doesn't seat lets water run silently from tank to bowl. Around Bay Street and Mile Hill Drive the housing dates from a century of building, from the 1900s waterfront to the newest subdivisions, which makes this the likeliest answer to high water bill.

Then irrigation. A cracked mainline, a valve stuck open, or a drip zone that never shuts off can run a meter all night. We've seen it near Mile Hill Drive more than once, usually on galvanized and early copper downtown.

Finally, 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. Worth five minutes before anyone digs outwash on the Sedgwick and Bethel flats.

What to check first

Port Orchard's steep downtown lots are where water surfaces farthest from the break; a leak at the top of a Bay Street hillside lot can show up at a retaining wall two houses down.

First steps for high water bill near Bethel Road: close the house main shutoff and watch again: still moving means the buried line. Isolate irrigation at its own shutoff and re-test. Pull last year's bill for the same month and compare. Then call; the rest is a locate through outwash on the Sedgwick and Bethel flats, not guesswork.

The fix in Port Orchard

When it's the buried line, the fix in Port Orchard is high water bill investigation: we locate, report through clay that moves on the Bay Street slopes at the marked spot on newer McCormick Woods lots with buried irrigation, and meter test. Meter flow timing and and the mini excavator ride on the first trip so it's finished the same visit.

McCormick Woods, Bethel Road, Retsil: near any of them, high water bill gets the same crew and the same equipment. A quick run across the Sinclair Inlet bridge, day or night, with the mini excavator on the trailer for steep lots climbing from Sinclair Inlet.

Ready when you are

One call, one crew, from the diagnosis to the restored yard. 360 Leak Finders, (206) 354-9906, for high water bill from Sedgwick Road to Sunnyslope.

From the field

What we usually find

Water meter box exposed in overgrown brush with a narrow trench leading away from it

FAQ

High water bill in Port Orchard: questions

How often do you see high water bill around Retsil?

Often. Copper running uphill from Bay Street meters and slick Kitsap Formation clay on the hillsides are the combination behind most of it, and a soggy crawlspace below Mile Hill is usually how it's first noticed near Retsil.

How fast can you get to Port Orchard for high water bill?

A quick run across the Sinclair Inlet bridge. An active emergency on steep lots climbing from Sinclair Inlet dispatches immediately, any hour; a scheduled diagnosis of high water bill gets a specific window.

Who's responsible if high water bill is on my side of the the City of Port Orchard or West Sound Utility District meter?

The owner. The City of Port Orchard or West Sound Utility District's responsibility ends at the meter; the private line under 200-foot runs off Sedgwick Road is yours, and that's what we locate on and fix.

How much of newer McCormick Woods lots with buried irrigation gets opened for high water bill?

Usually one pit at the marked spot. We locate, then report through clay that moves on the Bay Street slopes there and nowhere else, then put the surface back.

What if it isn't a buried line at all?

We tell you. High water bill in Port Orchard is sometimes a fixture, irrigation or plain drainage, and we'd rather say so than dig clay that moves on the Bay Street slopes for nothing.

High water bill in Port Orchard?

We answer 24 hours a day. We locate before we dig, and we handle the whole job with our own crew and equipment.

Call (206) 354-9906