Leak Alert FAQs

Have a question about your leak alert? Don’t know how to get started or who to call? See our leak alert FAQs below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Our system automatically generates a leak alert notification for residential customers when at least 7.48 gallons of water flows through your water meter for 22 continuous hours. This rate of flow could indicate a POTENTIAL leak. The District has created several resources to help you find and fix leaks. See our Fix-A-Leak webpage to get started.

  1. Do you need to jiggle the handle on the toilet to get it to stop running, or did a toilet get stuck?
  2. Was a hose or sprinkler accidentally left on?
  3. Did a sink get left on?
  4. Does your pool or spa have an autofill?
  5. Do you have a young adult or a night owl living with you?
  6. Did someone’s schedule change, or start working from home?

Most of the time these are silent leaks, and leaks CAN happen in newer toilets!

  1. Remove the lid from the tank and listen for a minute or two. If you hear water flowing, that’s the fill valve. Watch our YouTube Video series called “Potty Talk” that walks through repairing a toilet easily – the parts are available at your local hardware store, and the repairs take most people about an hour. Access our “Potty Talk” video series here to learn how to repair a toilet yourself https://www.mnwd.com/fix-a-leak
  2. The other common culprit is the flapper – the rubber gasket that lets the water out of the tank. You’ll need to use food dye (just not red!) or dye tabs in the tank to test it.

Moulton Niguel has created a “Potty Talk” video series to help our customers learn about toilet leaks, and how to detect and fix them. Watch Potty Talk 101 to get started!

Potty Talk 101 – Overview of basic toilet parts 

Potty Talk 201 – Identifying the toilet parts that create leaks  

Potty Talk 301 – Learn how to diagnose toilet leaks

Potty Talk 401 – Learn how to replace leaky flappers and running fill valves 

Learn how to replace leaky faucet aerator 

Learn how to replace leaky showerhead 

  • Start from the wall where the water pipe enters the house. Follow the pipe away from the wall past a bell-shaped pressure regulator. Keep following the pipe away from the wall, and there should be the HOUSE SHUTOFF VALVE. Even further from the wall there should be a tee or a right-angle pipe coming out from the main pipe. On that pipe, there should be the IRRIGATION SHUTOFF VALVE – it might be plastic or metal.
  • Turn off both the house shutoff valve and the irrigation shutoff valve. Then check your meter. If the water is still flowing, check if you see soggy or super green spots in your lawn, or if you see wet or weeping on your sidewalk. This may indicate a potential leak in the pipe that runs from the meter to the house (service line).
  • If there is no flow showing when both the house shutoff valve and the irrigation shutoff valve are closed, you can conclude it’s not likely to be the service line.
  • urn on the irrigation shutoff valve and recheck the meter. If the meter shows flow, this may indicate a potential leak in the irrigation system.
  • If it’s not the service line or the irrigation system, turn on the house shutoff valve and recheck the meter. If the meter shows flow, this may indicate a potential leak in the house.
  • If you don’t have an irrigation shutoff, you can look for some of the common breaks we see in irrigation:
    Leaky irrigation valve body
    Leaky solenoids (the part where wires come out of the top of the valve)
    Broken sprinkler heads
    Broken lateral lines, the pipes that connect the valve to the sprinklers.
  1. Find a licensed plumber/leak detection company (C-36), pool contractor (C-53), landscape contractor (C-27) on the California Contractors State License Board Contractor Search
    www.CSLB.ca.gov
    – Click Find My Licensed Contractor.
  2. Search for a licensed landscape contractor with an irrigation specialist with the California Landscape Contractors Association Contractor Search
    www.CLCA.org
    -Click Consumer Resources, then click Find My Contractor.