NEED HELP!! ASAP! WATER ISSUE AT APARTMENT BUILDING! PLEASE!

[Nik S.]

Hi everyone! I am in a big jam, here's my situation....

One of my recent aquistions was a 12 unit apartment building. After the 1st month, I received an astronomical high water bill/sewer. Where I purchased this building, the water bill can be $300 and the sewer bill is $900 (EPA mandates blah blah).... The building was trending between 27-55 CF's per month.. Since I received the more than double bill, I had the PM schedule a unit inspection the next day to check for water leaks. The guys found nothing major, few leaky showers and/or faucets/toilets.....nothing major. The next bill I received was 122 cf's. This month just read @ 145 cf's....

Besides all the money I'm spending on these high water bills eating profits, I CAN'T FIND ANY LEAKS!

I am lost what to do....I have checked all units, no one has complained about water issues or leaks from above units etc.

I feel helpless and a bit worried as to what to do. The only thing I changed/upgraded was putting in NEW washer/dryers which are MUCH more efficient than the last ones.

Can anyone please advise me as this problem is constant and I have no clue what to do.

The water is entering my building therefore being metered. My usage of water has now tripled in comparison the buildings last 1 year usage.

Any suggestions/help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

The building is located in Akron, Ohio

Thank you.

[Jon Holdman]

The water meters in use here have a small spinning piece on them that will show movement with even the slightest amount flow.  Does yours?  Can you see it?  If so, start by making sure everything is shut off in every unit.  Then check the meter.  If you have movement, something is flowing.  If each unit has a shutoff, close all those. Still have movement?  Its something in the lines between the meter and the shutoffs.  That can be tough to find because its very possible the problem is a buried line.  You may just have to start digging.

OTOH, if shutting off all the units stops the meter, then turn them on one at a time until it starts moving.  That's your culprit.  Something as simple as a leaky toilet can dump a LOT of water.  There are colored tablets you can drop in the tanks.  If there's leakage, you'll see color in the bowl.

You say:

I think you're too quick to discount these "not major" leaks.  I had ONE leaky toilet that by itself dumped over $100 of water down the drain over the course of a month. This was in no way gushing.  If the house was quite and you listened closely you could hear a slight trickle.  If you watched the water closely in the bowl you could see very slight movement.  A "few" leaky showers, faucets, and toilets could well be dumping a lot of water.