How to Turn Off Your Customer Valve

Finding Water Leaks

Here are a few tips we hope will assist you in finding water leaks inside and outside your home. If you see a water leak in our system, please call us at (760) 735-4500 immediately. After hours and on weekends our answering service will take your number and have our duty crew call you back. Please do not wait until business hours to call as this wastes water and could reduce water supplies in your area.

  1. Turn Off the Water - Before you look for leaks, make sure no water is being used inside or outside of your home.
     
  2. Locate your water meter – Most meters can be found off the street in front of your property.  If you are not sure if a particular meter is yours, you can verify the meter is yours by matching the serial number on the meter with the one on your bill.  If you cannot locate your meter please contact the District and we will be happy to assist you.
     
  3. Check to see if meter is moving – If everything is off and the meter is moving, you most likely have a leak.  For slow leaks, you need to look at the “Tattle Tell”, a small red dial located on the face of the meter just below the numbers.  If the “Tattle Tell” is moving, water is running somewhere in the system.
     
  4. If Water Meter is moving, check your:
    • Irrigation system – Shut off the valve that serves your sprinkler system.  Go back and check the meter and if the tattle tell is not moving the sprinklers system is the problem.
    • Toilets – shut off valves at the wall to the toilets.  Check the meter for movement.
    • Water heater, Water Softener, Swamp cooler, water–cooled air conditioner, ice machine and reverse osmosis units – Most have a bypass lever that you can turn off.  Check the meter for movement.
    • Check your main service line - turn off the valve to the house.  If meter is moving the leak is between meter and house valve.
       
  5. If Water Meter is not moving:
    • Turn on your irrigation valve and look for any broken sprinkler heads or leaking irrigation lines.
    • Check timers, make sure they are coming on and off as you wanted.  Sometimes power outages or surges will cause timers to reset themselves.
    • Keep a log of your meter reads.  Read in the morning when you leave and in the evening when you return.  Keeping a log will show a pattern of usage you can then see if something changes and back into your log book and find the time/date that the fluctuation may have started.

We hope this information is helpful.  If you have any questions please do not hesitate in contacting us at (760) 735-4500.