300 unit apartment complex - High Water Bill

[Austin Nelson]

Hello,

We manage a ~300 unit apartment community in Birmingham Alabama. We purchased the property in Oct 2019 and the average water bill for previous ownership was roughly $24K per month or $90 per door. Since then, our bills are nearly 40K per month, $140 per door.

We have done leak detection 3 different times. Replaced two of the lines that had small leaks. Did water walks for the entire property 3 different times. Just can't seem to understand the issue. This issue was going on prior to covid so we don't believe it has anything to do with residents being home. The odd thing about the whole issue is that last month, our bill dropped back down to $24K but jumped back up to $40K this month.

We have hired a new leak detection company to come out just to see if the previous company missed anything but it just doesn't explain the 800K gallon different in a month time frame.

Has anyone had any issues like this in the past and what was the cause of the issue?

[George W.]

Most of the issues I've seen with high water bills are running toilets. 

Next in the running fixture category would be old 3 handle bath & shower spindles. The washers wear out in them from people over tightening and the hot water being too hot. 

Water heater pressure and temperature relief valves that discharge into indirect waste pipes. I've seen them before where they're tucked in a closet somewhere and people dont notice that water is running out of them. Excessive pressure or temperature can set them off but as the get older they get more sensitive it seems. Usually they have a slow consistant drip but I've seen them where they're running water near full pressure.

I've seen alot of slab and underground leaks that were tough to figure out as well. Usually with those your Bill's get progressively higher everymonth. 

Also if there are floor drains with trap primers that's a good thing to check. 

Pressure ruducing valves on boilers that bypass and build pressure until their relief valve goes off. 

I've seen backflow preventers on whole buildings that fail and discharge into a indirect waste recptor. or in some cases they are doing their job and theres a underlying issue for backflow. 

The sky is the limit on what could be leaking. Usually high water Bills are a cumulative of a bunch of things though. Large leaks are generally much easier to find then a bunch of small ones.