FAQ

For a typical house, an estimated $150 to $400, set out in a written quote before the visit and kept apart from any repair. A buried line under a driveway or a finished floor can run toward an estimated $300 to $800, and you hear that on the phone. No verified Caldwell average exists, so none is printed here.

Usually because water is moving past the meter, or because the reading is wrong. Compare the bill with the register on your meter, then turn everything off and watch the low-flow indicator; a toilet that keeps refilling is the most common indoor cause. One thing it will not be is a leak on city pressurized irrigation, because that water is not metered and is billed by lot acreage.

Yes. Start with the City of Caldwell's utility billing and bring your own meter reading. Caldwell's city code also sets up a utility board, appointed by the mayor, that hears requests for billing adjustments. A written finding showing where the water went, and that it has been repaired, gives that conversation something solid to stand on.

From groundwater. The City of Caldwell's 2024 water quality report lists 15 wells spread over four pressure zones, with two storage tanks holding 2.5 million gallons between them. Lawn water on many subdivisions is a separate, non-potable supply delivered by the Caldwell Municipal Irrigation District, and it is not meant for drinking.

The property owner. Caldwell's city code defines the City's service line as running from the main to and including the corporation stop, valve box and meter yoke, and the private line as running from the meter to and through the building. The code also makes the owner keep private pipes repaired and protected from freezing. A leak at the meter itself or on the street side is the City's.

By ruling things out before reaching for equipment. Meter readings and shutoffs split the plumbing into sections, and in Caldwell the first split is often drinking line against irrigation line. Then the tool fits the section: a ground microphone and a line locator for a buried run, a thermal camera and a moisture meter for a wall, tracer gas where the sound is faint.

They repair them, and many will try to find them too. A leak detection visit is the finding on its own: a marked spot and a written note you can hand to any licensed plumber, or to an irrigation contractor if the leak is on the lawn line. Splitting the two keeps the repair to one opening.

That depends on how fast the water escapes and on the City's rates, so no single figure is honest. A slow drip can hide for months, while a running toilet or a split line shows on the next bill. The City can also act on what it sees in meter readings: its code gives an owner 60 days after notice to repair waste from a leaking private pipe.