How much water can a small leak waste?
Water leaks cost money and waste huge volumes of water. Over 15 percent of the water in some municipal systems go unaccounted for, usually due to leaks outside of meters. This can be over a billion gallons per year on some large systems. A ¼-inch continuous water leak, at 60 psi, will waste 1,181,500 gallons in just 3 months and a 1/16-inch leak will waste 74,000 gallons during the same time. A single dripping faucet can waste 3 gallons per day…a total of over 1000 gallons per year. You pay the cost for the water wasted if it has passed through your meter. In reality everyone on a water system pays for the wasted water due the extra treatment costs to supply enough water to make up for that which is wasted.
