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Water

Leaks Can Run but They Can't Hide

Leaks Can Run but They Can't Hide
  • Natalie Stone

Leaky faucet? Running toilet? High water bill? March 17-23, 2025, is Fix a Leak Week and there’s no better time to find and fix leaks as soon as possible! Leaks can happen anytime in any device that uses water. Unchecked leaks waste a valuable resource we all need and share.  

Here are some facts about leaks you might not know:  

  • A home with plumbing leaks can lose over 70,000 gallons of water each year. That’s enough water to fill a basketball court two feet deep.
  • A shower leaking at 10 drips per minute wastes more than 500 gallons per year. That’s the amount of water it takes to wash 60 loads of dishes in your dishwasher.  
  • Fixing easily corrected household water leaks can save homeowners about 10% on their water bills.  
  • Household leaks can waste more than 1 trillion gallons of water annually nationwide.   

 

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's (SFPUC) Water Conservation team is available year-round and ready to help you find and repair leaks. On a daily basis, the SFPUC's leak alert program identifies properties whose hourly meter use indicate a potential leak, and we automatically notify those customers. You don’t need to sign up to get our alerts, but you can make sure your contact information is current by updating your details in MyAccount. On your account, you can also view your daily and hourly water use which can help you spot unusual increases. Most San Francisco residents use about 40 gallons of water per day at home.  

Visit our website at sfpuc.gov/fixleaks to find more tips and resources to stop leaks. Here are a few easy ways to get started:  

  • Toilet leaks are the most common household leaks. To check for a toilet leak, you can drop a dye tablet, which the SFPUC provides for free, or food coloring into the tank and wait 15 minutes. If colored water appears in the bowl, the toilet’s flapper is leaking.  
  • Inspect the area between your water meter and irrigation valve to check for an irrigation leak. If the area is wet or muddy, you may have an underground pipe leak.  
  • Don’t forget to check other devices that use water, such as irrigation systems, hot tubs, fountains, clothes washers, dish washers, ice machines, and water heaters!