Water Bill from LADWP is 5 to 7 Times Normal Rate

[Account Closed]

Hello,

Our water bill is normally $600-800 for a 10 unit building every two months.  The last biill came in at around $4,000 and we can't figure out why.  We checked all of the units, the crawlspace, the basement/water heater, and the sprinkler heads.  One running toilet was found, but that wouldn't have caused such an increase on its own.  We also had LADWP come out and inspect the meters and they said that they were working normally.  Now I'm wondering what to do next.  The only thing that occurs to me is to check the pipe under the sidewalk that goes from the meter to our shutoff valve.  Thanks.

[Nathan Gesner]

Keep checking those toilets! One of them may have been running for weeks and then the tenant shut it off right before your inspection. In my experience, toilets are the culprit 90% of the time.