# Missing 10 million gallons of water



## Cajunhiker (Dec 14, 2009)

A 281-unit apartment complex, which normally uses about 1 million gallons of water a month, saw their usage rise exponentially to 10 million gallons in 20 days. Their bill rose ten times from a normal $6,000 per month to $60,000. 

The meter, on a 4" line, is spinning like crazy. 

The mystery: the property is dry. There are no signs of water puddling anywhere. The water service to each apartment building has been turned off, yet meter still spins.

The meter is about 3-4 feet below grade. 

The water utility swears there is nothing wrong with the meter. They do not have a backflow preventer on the main water line, but do have a few on the sprinkler system. 

There are 3 gate valves buried underground that control water service to 3 sections of the property. Plan to dig to the valves and isolate each of the 3 sections of water service to see if we can narrow down where a leak may possibly be. 

My immediate thought is there is a siphonage situation and water is flowing in reverse through the meter. But it seems the meter dial would spin backwards, and it's not. 
My second thought is the meter is def screwed up and malfunctioning. 
My third thought is someone tapped into their water service and is stealing A Lot of water, someone like another utility company. This is not unheard of, as I do know of one pending lawsuit regarding theft of water from a utility by another utility.

Any thoughts?


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

they got a leak.....

get someone out there with the proper equipment to find it....with that much water moving past they should be able to find it.....


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## Nevada Plumber (Jan 3, 2009)

I've seen water lines that broke underground not show up above ground because they were running into a broken sewer line underground, though this was on a much smaller scale than what you are dealing with.

9 million gallons in 20 days works out to a little over 300 gallons a minute, it should be easy enough to find.


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## KoleckeINC (Oct 22, 2011)

Camera down the sewer to see what's leaking in


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## Cajunhiker (Dec 14, 2009)

KoleckeINC said:


> Camera down the sewer to see what's leaking in


We actually did this on all of the main drain lines for each building, and did not see anything unusual.


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## dhal22 (Jul 30, 2010)

Digging away years ago and my excavator bucket dropped out of site. There was a huge unknown void just underground caused by a badly leaking 6" DI pipe. There was so much dirt washed away that the pipe had sagged almost to the point of separation. The water was going somewhere straight down but we never found out where.


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## Cajunhiker (Dec 14, 2009)

dhal22 said:


> Digging away years ago and my excavator bucket dropped out of site. There was a huge unknown void just underground caused by a badly leaking 6" DI pipe. There was so much dirt washed away that the pipe had sagged almost to the point of separation. The water was going somewhere straight down but we never found out where.


Well, this apartment complex sits right next to Lake Ponchatrain, which is 630 square miles and 12-14 feet deep. Maybe it's getting deeper lol


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## GAN (Jul 10, 2012)

Yep cavity running alongside of the water main or sewer main. That close to a lake no wonder it is not showing up.

As mentioned, seen this before on a smaller scale. Watch out something heavy doesn't collapse the top.

The version I saw, had a car dropped to the frame in a parking lot where the leak had undermined it.

Possibly "sub-surface surveillance".


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## Plumberman (Jul 7, 2008)

Acoustic leak detecting equipment would help you narrow down the search to save on a lot of digging. If that much is flowing through, the main is blowing some where


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## joarmape (Nov 10, 2015)

did you find out where was the leak at? or where the water was going to?


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

Is Nestlé bottling water there?


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## plumber11928 (Feb 18, 2015)

Have a leaky pipe, here's your man !!!


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## plungerboy (Oct 17, 2013)

joarmape said:


> did you find out where was the leak at? or where the water was going to?


Got an update?


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## plungerboy (Oct 17, 2013)

plungerboy said:


> Got an update?


 would like to hear how it ended.


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## wharfrat (Nov 1, 2014)

Don't leave us hanging


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Well, where did those millions of gallons of water go? We want an update.

Don't leave us hanging.


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## fixitright (Jan 5, 2012)

Maybe they floated off ?

A year of suspense.


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## mtfallsmikey (Jan 11, 2010)

Haven't seen a water bill since the 6" main valve underground blew out, that one you could definitely see the water coming up! Start isolating valves, you will find it.


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## wyrickmech (Mar 16, 2013)

Look for a leak. Use a set of Megaphone's.


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