We slapped on the sunscreen over summer, but those dry days can play havoc with pipes

After the dismal summer of 2023 put a dampener on many a holiday plan, it’s been a relief to be churning through the sunscreen this year. But these hot dry days can play havoc with pipes. This is because when the ground dries up, it retracts from pipes and causes breakages.

We find the number of reported leaks can jump by as much as 25 per cent over summer, and fixing them certainly keeps our maintenance crews busy. And if our public pipes are experiencing more breaks, chances are your residential plumbing could be suffering too.

So here’s a few tips for keeping on top of leaks:

• Have a walk around your property after a few dry days. If there’s a wet patch in your lawn, that’s a strong sign there could be leak and you’ll need to call a plumber.
• Use your water meter to carry out a leak check. Pick a time when no water will be used for at least four hours (overnight can be a good time). Check your water meter’s reading, then don’t use any water for at least four hours. If the water meter’s reading has gone up while you haven’t been using any water, it’s likely you have a leak. 
• Leaks can be happening inside your house too – for example, from a leaky toilet cistern or dripping tap. A simple way to check your toilet is to put a few drops of food colouring in the cistern. If colour ends up in the toilet bowl without flushing, you have a leak.

Have you downloaded the Watercare app?

If your water meter has been replaced with a smart meter in the past 18 months – and you’ve downloaded our app – you’ll receive timely notification of potential leaks. One happy app user was stoked to receive a notification about his unusually high daily water use. He went to explore in his backyard and found a tap connected to this hose had been left on, and with a small hole in the hosepipe, there was a continuous leak. Without the app notification, it could have gone unnoticed for quite some time, and meant a lot of water wasted.

We’ve sent more than 2,000 leak notifications like these through the app since it was launched.

The app is available on mechanical meters as well and allows you to:

• View your household’s water use in monthly and yearly bites
• Compare your household’s water use against our water efficiency targets
• View and pay your water bill on the go
• View your billing history
• Talk to our team through LiveChat

One customer who recently downloaded the app is enjoying the insights into his water use and costs. He’s been making a conscious effort to reduce his water use and has managed to cut almost $20 from his monthly bills.

Haven’t yet got the app? You can download it for free from Google Play or the App Store.