As of late September 2026, before the Santa Anas start rattling the screens, I do my yearly walk through the house here in Riverside: under every sink, around the base of each toilet, behind the water heater, along the baseboards. No puddle, no stain, no drip I can hear, so nothing’s wrong. That’s been my leak check in this house here in California for as long as I’ve owned it.
Riverside Public Utilities doesn’t frame it that way. Its water tips put the stakes plainly: “Even small leaks can waste hundreds to thousands of gallons of water a month.” The utility also offers rebates up to $175 on water flow monitoring devices, which it says can help detect water leaks early.
Have a plumber find the hidden leak.You share that your water meter moved during a no-water check, and interested local plumbers call to talk about it, free and no obligation.“My water meter moved during a two-hour no-water check.”→Free for homeowners · Your number stays private
What EPA says
EPA’s advice for finding leaks is a number on a dial, not a wet spot: “Check your water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, there is probably a leak.” No stain required. No sound required.
Why a dry floor doesn’t mean a dry pipe
EPA’s WaterSense program describes two ways leak devices work, and they’re two different questions: “moisture detection, which alerts homeowners to unexpected dampness, or flow monitoring, which measures how much water is flowing and detects water consumption patterns that may be indicative of a leak or other irregularity.” My walk-through is the first kind, done by hand. It only catches water that has already shown up somewhere I can see…