One test, eight ways of timing it
The idea is the same everywhere: stop every tap and appliance, write down the numbers on the meter, use no water, then read it again. Unitywater puts the logic plainly: the numbers on a meter only move if water is being drawn through it, by something on the property or by a leak.
What changes from one utility to the next is how long they ask you to wait.
| Utility | Wait | One detail from its page |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney WaterGreater Sydney, the Blue Mountains and the Illawarra | At least an hour | Leave the meter tap on. The bigger the change, the bigger the potential leak. |
| Hunter WaterThe Lower Hunter | Overnight | Read the meter before bed and again in the morning. |
| South East WaterMelbourne’s south-eastern suburbs | 20 minutes | If the numbers or the wheel have moved, repeat the test to make sure. |
| UnitywaterSouth East Queensland | At least an hour | Photograph the numbers, including the red ones. Leave the meter tap on. |
| Water CorporationWestern Australia | 15 minutes | Note the three red numbers. Its online tool works out the water and money lost. |
| SA WaterSouth Australia | About an hour or two | Use no water inside or outside the house while you wait. |
| TasWaterTasmania | Overnight | Flush the toilet before the first reading, at the end of the day. |
| Icon WaterCanberra | Overnight | Read the black and red numbers from left to right. |
Reading your water meter for leaks goes through the test step by step, including how to read the red wheels and what a smart meter shows instead.
What one utility found when it looked
Water Corporation studied water use at 2,500 homes in Perth and Peel over four years. It found close to 15 per cent of homes had a leak on any given day, and 30 per cent had some form of plumbing leak at least once a year.
The leaks it found most often were on taps, toilets, hot water systems, air conditioners and garden reticulation. A hidden leak, in Water Corporation’s words, is often a cracked or broken pipe underground, in walls, or under paving and driveways.
Signs of a hidden leak collects what the utilities say to look for, room by room and outside.
The meter is usually where your side begins
South East Water puts the line at the meter: the property owner is responsible for the pipes from the water meter to the house, including the garden tap. Unitywater says the same of every pipe and fitting from the meter onto private property.
The details move from one utility to the next. Sydney Water often fixes, free of charge, the service between its main and the meter, as far as one metre inside the property boundary. Water Corporation draws its line at the “plumbers elbow”, and treats submeters in shared buildings differently. Whose pipe is it? sets them side by side.
Some utilities share the cost of a hidden leak
Several utilities will credit part of a bill run up by a hidden leak once it has been repaired, each on its own conditions. Sydney Water calls its version a goodwill credit: 50% of the water usage charge for the quarter the leak hit hardest. Unitywater’s refunds 70% of the excess water usage charges for residential customers, and 100% for pensioners.
Visible leaks, such as dripping taps and toilet cisterns, are excluded by Sydney Water, Hunter Water, Unitywater and Water Corporation. Leak allowances and bill support compares eight utilities’ policies and time limits.
Six readings
Each guide answers one question from the utilities’ and regulators’ own pages, with the sources listed at the foot of each page.
- Reading your water meter for leaksThe meter test, utility by utility: how long each one says to wait.
- Signs of a hidden leakWhat the utilities say to look, listen and feel for.
- Whose pipe is it?Where each utility’s side ends and the owner’s begins.
- Leaking toilets and tapsThe dye test, the paper test, and the litres each utility quotes.
- Leak allowances and bill supportEight utilities’ hidden leak policies, side by side.
- Who may repair itLicensed plumbing work, and each state’s register.