City Water Leak Notice · For owners, operators & property managers
A leak notice on a commercial meter is a P&L problem with a deadline.
Commercial meters move serious volume, so when a utility flags continuous flow on one, the waste behind it is rarely small — and the monthly bill exposure scales with pipe diameter. The usual culprits: irrigation systems nobody audits, cooling and mechanical make-up water masking losses, fixture banks in multi-tenant buildings, and buried site services that haven't surfaced anything yet.
Priority scheduling for notice calls · Free phone consult · Mon–Sat 8am–6pm PT
For managers, notices arrive with operational friction attached: which building, which tenant, whose meter, whose budget — and a utility response window that doesn't care about any of that. Our role is to compress the whole question: meter-level verification, precise location across the site, a documented report that allocates cause, and the paper trail your adjustment application and accounting both need.
What's usually behind the notice
- Irrigation systems running unaudited across landscaped sites
- Cooling tower and mechanical make-up water concealing system losses
- Buried site services between the meter and the building(s)
- Fixture banks in multi-tenant buildings — small flows × many units
- Process equipment and kitchen lines passing water continuously
- Hydrant and fire-line private-side leakage on larger sites
Why the clock matters
- Large-meter waste compounds fast — notice-level flow can be a five-figure annual line item
- Tenant cost-allocation disputes get worse the longer cause is undocumented
- Utility response windows and adjustment eligibility run on the calendar, not your maintenance backlog
- Undetected site leaks undermine paving, slabs, and landscaping — the second invoice
From letter to closed file
- 1
Read the notice properly
Note what triggered it (continuous flow, abnormal consumption, estimated vs actual read), any response window it sets, and whether it mentions a leak adjustment program. Keep the letter — it becomes part of your adjustment and insurance paper trail.
- 2
Run the meter test
Shut every fixture and water-using appliance off, then watch your water meter for five minutes. Movement with everything off confirms water is leaving the system somewhere on your side. Our free DIY tool at test.leak.ca walks you through it step by step.
- 3
Split inside from outside
Close the building's main shut-off valve and read the meter again. Still moving? The leak is between the meter and the building — usually the buried service line or irrigation. Stopped? It's inside: running fixtures, a slab leak, or concealed plumbing.
- 4
Get it located, not guessed at
This is where we come in: acoustic, thermal, and tracer-gas methods pinpoint the leak — service line, slab, irrigation, or in-wall — typically within centimetres, before anyone excavates or opens finishes. One precise location instead of exploratory holes.
- 5
Repair with the right trade
Your plumber or excavation contractor repairs exactly where the mark says. Because the location is precise, the repair is small — and fast enough to matter for any response window your notice set.
- 6
Document everything for the adjustment
Many BC utilities offer a leak adjustment on the bill when a leak is repaired promptly and documented. Our written detection report plus your repair invoice is exactly the evidence package those applications ask for — and the same file supports an insurance claim if damage occurred.
The right services for commercial notices
Commercial Leak Detection
Property-wide surveys built for multi-tenant and operational complexity.
ViewUnderground & Site Service Leak Detection
Buried mains and services between meter and buildings — pinpointed, not trenched-for.
ViewIrrigation Leak Mapping (Aerial)
Whole-site irrigation anomalies mapped in one flight, keyed to zones.
ViewWater Meter Diagnostics
When the question is whether the meter itself is telling the truth.
ViewCommercial owners ask
The notice is for the whole property — how do we find which system is leaking?
Stepwise isolation, the commercial version of the home split test: sub-meters and isolation valves let us bracket the loss to irrigation, mechanical, a building riser, or buried site services — then pinpoint within the guilty system. The deliverable allocates cause specifically enough for tenant chargebacks and adjustment paperwork alike.
Can you work without disrupting tenants or operations?
Yes — verification and acoustic work are non-invasive, scheduling flexes to your operating hours within Mon–Sat 8am–6pm PT, and isolation steps are sequenced to avoid service interruptions except where briefly unavoidable and planned with you. Most investigations conclude without a single tenant noticing.
Our portfolio gets these notices regularly. Is there a standing arrangement?
That's the efficient version: a pre-agreed protocol (verification steps, site access, rates) that turns each notice into a routine dispatch instead of a procurement exercise — and a portfolio leak-response file that insurers and auditors respect. Pair it with annual aerial irrigation and roof surveys and the notices themselves get rarer.
Does a leak adjustment even matter at commercial volumes?
More than anywhere — the same percentage forgiveness applies to a much larger overage. Where offered, programs typically require prompt professional repair and documentation; on a large meter, a successful application can offset the entire detection-and-repair cost several times over. Policies vary by municipality; your notice states yours, and our report is built to satisfy it.
← City leak notice hub·Residential notices·Governmental & Public Sector notices·Complete guide
Notice help in every BC city
Got the letter? Get the answer.
Free phone consult — what your notice means, what to check first, and a firm quote if a visit is warranted. No pressure.