Sydney Water's meter test
Turn everything off
Every tap, plus anything that uses water by itself: the dishwasher, the washing machine, drip irrigation.
Leave the meter tap on
The meter is usually at the front of the property. Don't close its tap, or the test won't show anything.
Write down the numbers
Note the reading on the dial, including the last digits.
Wait an hour
Use no water at all for at least the next hour.
Read it again
If the last numbers have moved, you have a leak. Sydney Water's rule of thumb: the bigger the change, the bigger the potential leak.
Leaks in Sydney: who fixes what
Your pipes, Sydney Water's meter
Pipes and fittings on your property are the owner's to repair. Sydney Water owns and maintains the meter, and often repairs the service between its main and the meter, up to one metre inside your boundary.
A leaking meter tap
Fixing the meter tap is the owner's responsibility, but Sydney Water will repair it within 10 working days if you report it. A licensed plumber can do it sooner, at your cost.
Units and townhouses
30.7% of Greater Sydney's occupied homes were flats or apartments at the 2021 Census. In most NSW strata schemes the owners corporation looks after plumbing in boundary walls and under the floor, and the owner looks after pipes in internal walls and their own fixtures.
Lines shared with neighbours
If your water service is a joint private service shared with other properties, Sydney Water says each owner who shares it is responsible for it.
Why a leak specialist
Sydney Water itself says not all plumbers have the tools and skills to find leaks hidden underground or inside walls. A leak detection specialist narrows the search before cutting into anything, so the wall, floor or driveway that gets opened is the one hiding the leak.
Once it's found, the repair on your side of the meter is plumbing work. In NSW the person contracting for it needs a contractor licence whatever it costs, and you can check that licence on the NSW Public Register. Ask for the Certificate of Compliance when the job is done.
Checks you can do first
You can
- The meter test above.
- Put a small piece of dry toilet paper at the back of the toilet bowl. It should stay dry until the next flush.
- Unhook hoses left on garden taps, then see whether the taps drip.
- Look for grass that's greener than the lawn around it in dry weather.
- Change a dripping tap's washer: Sydney Water gives this as the kind of minor job you can do yourself.
Leave to a licensed plumber
- Tracing a leak inside walls, under a slab or underground
- Repairing pipes on your side of the meter
- Leaks in shared or strata pipes, once you know whose they are
- Hot water pipe leaks, which waste energy as well as water
What we would do
Do the meter test tonight, before anyone visits. If the dial moves, you know there's a leak and roughly how big, and you can tell the specialist that up front. If you're in a strata building, tell the strata manager at the same time, because the leaking pipe might be in a boundary wall or under the floor. And if water is showing at the meter tap itself, report that to Sydney Water first.