It's hard to believe we live in a state nearly surrounded by water and yet we have one of the most expensive water utility rates. The reason primarily goes way back to when the County bought and overpaid for the utility from General Development Corporation. It would take another Newsletter to tell the whole story!

So, here's my Home Tip of the Month:

An easy way to check to see if you are losing water on your side of the meter is to make certain all plumbing connections are turned off.

Go outside to your water meter and look at the dial (the thing that looks like an odometer on your car), next to it you will see a small red triangle shaped object (about the size of a pencil eraser) that spins when water is running through the meter. If everything is properly shut off and watertight on your side of the meter, this little triangle shaped object should not be spinning at all. If it is spinning (often very slightly), the first thing I would check are your toilets. This is the most common culprit since you may not hear it running as water slowly seeps from the tank to the bowl and only turns on when the water level gets low enough to trigger the float valve. We've found that a running water closet can raise your water bill $200 in ONE month!

Another common situation is the water in the house is fine but there's a leak in the sprinkler. It sometimes goes undetected for a long time, but will be noticeable in the dry season...when you suddenly have a patch of beautiful green grass and the rest of the lawn looks like a desert!

If you're unable to visually locate a leaky culprit, get ready to cringe. You may have an under-slab or underground connection leak. Copper water lines under the slab were the industry standard up until the mid 90's. As these homes age, we are seeing increasing failure due to corrosion. The remedy to this problem would be to have a licensed plumber cap off your old copper lines and run new PVC water lines overhead through your attic and down your walls to your fixtures. Depending on the size of your home, this can cost several thousand dollars.

If you find yourself in this situation, be careful when choosing a plumber, you want this done right the first time. By the way, I happen to know a good plumber!