FAQ

Somewhere in an estimated $150 to $400 for an ordinary house here, the range the trade quotes nationally; nobody has published a verified Cape Girardeau average, and we do not make one up. Where yours lands depends on access. Pipe you can see in an unfinished basement or a crawlspace is quick to test, while a finished lower level, a long yard run to the street or a leak too faint to hear easily takes longer. Any repair gets its own written quote afterward, and a leak on the City's side of your property line is the City's to find, not yours to pay for.

In Cape Girardeau the property line decides it, not the meter. The City's written policy is that it is responsible for all leaks up to the property line regardless of where the meter is; past the line, the owner calls a plumber. That breaks the usual rule of thumb, and it matters most in houses with the meter in the basement, where part of the owner's pipe runs ahead of the meter. When a leak turns up there, the policy has Alliance Water move the meter out to the property line at no cost to the homeowner, so the repair has a shutoff point.

Usually because more water went through the meter, so start with gallons rather than dollars: compare the usage on this bill with the same month last year. If usage really did jump, shut off every faucet, toilet and appliance and watch the meter's low-flow indicator; if it moves, water is going somewhere. A toilet that runs on is the commonest cause and the cheapest to put right. If the dial is still and the usage still looks wrong, take that question to the City's utility billing office before you pay anyone to search.

Yes, for a leak on your side of the property line, but find out which side it is on first. Water in the street, at the curb or short of your lot line is the City's responsibility here, and the call to make is to Alliance Water, which runs the system for the City. A leak you can see on your side, such as a dripping trap or a weeping valve, can go straight to a plumber. One you cannot see is cheaper to locate first, so the plumber starts in the right place. The City issues plumbing permits to licensed journeyman and master plumbers, so ask for the license.

That is a question for the City's utility billing office, because the decision is theirs and we cannot promise how they will treat a particular bill. What helps any conversation about one is evidence: meter readings you took yourself with the date, the day the leak was found and stopped, and a written finding of where it was. A detection visit provides that last piece. And if the leak turns out to be on the City's side of the property line, that is a different conversation altogether, because those leaks are the City's.

The toilet. A tired flapper or a fill valve that never fully closes keeps a thin stream running from tank to bowl day and night, too softly to hear. Tint the tank water with food coloring, leave it a quarter of an hour without flushing, then check the bowl: any color there means the tank is leaking through. It is an inexpensive part and rarely needs us. Other common ones are dripping faucets, a water heater relief valve that weeps, and an outdoor faucet that froze in a cold snap and split behind the wall.

Yes when the meter shows flow that nothing in the house explains; no when it shows none. With every fixture off and the dial still for an hour, a search will most likely find nothing, and we'd sooner say so before anyone drives over. With the dial moving, an estimated $150 to $400 to locate the leak usually costs far less than opening floors and walls on a guess. In this city it also pays to check first that the leak is not on the City's side of the property line, where finding it is the City's job.

The repair is usually the short part; finding the leak is what takes time. On pipe that can be reached, such as in an unfinished basement or a crawlspace, a located leak is often a brief job. A buried service line adds digging and backfill, and a pipe inside a finished wall adds opening it and closing it up again. A precise spot is what keeps the repair, and the hours it eats, as small as they can be.