The city says you have a leak. They're probably right. Here's the playbook.

Because your meter told them something is wrong. Many BC municipalities now run smart (AMI) metering that flags continuous flow — water moving through your meter every hour of the day, which almost never happens in a healthy property — while others catch abnormal jumps at billing reads. The notice means the utility's data says water is leaving your system around the clock. It is not an accusation; it's a data point, and usually a correct one.

In most BC municipalities, the utility owns the system up to and including the meter, and the property owner owns everything past it — including the buried service line from the meter to the building. That's precisely why the city notifies you instead of fixing it: the continuous flow is registering through your meter, on your side. (If water is surfacing on the street side of the meter, tell your utility — that part is theirs.)

In rough order: underground service line leaks (the buried pipe between meter and building — invisible at the surface for months), running indoor fixtures, irrigation system leaks (a season's silent waste), slab leaks under concrete floors, and pool or water-feature top-up systems masking a loss. The split test — meter movement with the building's main valve closed versus open — sorts outside from inside in ten minutes.

Many BC utilities offer a one-time (or limited-frequency) adjustment that forgives part of the excess consumption on your bill if you repair the leak promptly and provide documentation. Policies vary by municipality — eligibility, caps, and deadlines are set locally, and your notice or your utility's website states yours. What's universal: applications want proof the leak existed, was professionally addressed, and is fixed. Our detection report plus your repair invoice is that proof.

Two clocks are running. The utility's clock: many notices set a response window, and adjustment programs typically require prompt repair. The water's clock: a leak big enough to trigger a notice is wasting volume continuously — service-line leaks commonly run thousands of litres a day — and undermining soil, slabs, or finishes while it does. Notice-driven calls get priority scheduling with us for both reasons. Mon–Sat, 8am–6pm PT: 604-239-9934.

Plumbers are the right trade for the repair — but most carry no specialised location equipment, and buried or concealed leaks defeat visual inspection by definition. The expensive failure pattern is exploratory digging or wall-opening that finds nothing. The economical pattern: we pinpoint with acoustic correlation, thermal imaging, and tracer gas; your plumber repairs at the mark; the total bill is smaller and the adjustment paperwork is cleaner.

No — continuous-flow alerts often fire weeks before the bill shows real damage, which is the entire point of the program: your utility caught it early. A five-minute meter check costs nothing (test.leak.ca walks you through it). Ignoring an early warning until it becomes a visible problem usually converts a small repair into excavation, restoration, and a much harder adjustment conversation.

Detection visits start in the low-to-mid hundreds — typically a fraction of one month of notice-level water waste, let alone the excavation-by-guesswork it prevents. A service-line leak left running can waste more than a detection visit costs every single week, and many utilities' adjustment programs effectively rebate part of the detection-and-repair spend through bill forgiveness. The free phone consult gives you a firm number in five minutes: 604-239-9934.