Water meter spinning, soggy lawn, or pressure dropping for no reason? There's a good chance you've got an underground leak. We find it and fix it.
Call Now — We'll Sort It 0800 322 322Underground leaks are tricky because the pipe is buried and the water has nowhere obvious to go. It soaks into the ground, and the leak can run for weeks or months before you notice. Here are the signs to watch for:
We don't start digging and hope for the best. Our process is methodical:
First step is always the meter. We shut off water inside the house at the main stopcock and monitor the meter. If the meter is still running, the leak is between the toby and the house — confirming an underground leak on your supply line.
We connect a pressure gauge to your system, pressurise it, and monitor. A dropping pressure reading tells us exactly how fast the leak is and helps us estimate its size. We can also pressurise isolated sections to narrow down which pipe run is leaking.
For pressurised water leaks, listening devices can pick up the sound of water escaping through a crack or break in the pipe. We listen along the known pipe route to get an approximate location before we dig.
On properties with multiple pipe runs — such as separate lines to a granny flat, garden taps, or pool — we isolate each line in turn and test it independently. This tells us exactly which line has the problem.
The most common underground leak in Auckland is on the supply line running from the Watercare toby (the meter at the boundary) to the house. This pipe crosses your property — under the lawn, driveway, or garden — and is entirely your responsibility to maintain and repair.
These pipes are typically copper, galvanised steel, polybutylene, or MDPE depending on the age of the property. Older materials like galvanised and poly-B are the most likely to fail.
When we locate the leak, we dig down to the pipe, assess the damage, and make the repair. For a single break on an otherwise sound pipe, a spot repair is often enough. If the pipe is old and corroded throughout, replacing the full run from toby to house with new MDPE pipe is the better long-term option.
Service line repairs involve digging down to the buried pipe, which can be anywhere from 300mm to over a metre deep depending on the property. We handle the full process:
Watercare owns and maintains the pipe up to your toby (water meter) at the property boundary. Everything from the toby to your house — including any buried pipe running across your front yard, under the driveway, or through the garden — is your responsibility as the property owner.
Even a small crack can lose hundreds of litres per day. A moderate underground leak can easily waste 1,000 to 5,000 litres daily, which adds up to hundreds of dollars on your Watercare bill each quarter. The sooner you find it, the less it costs you.
Watercare may offer a leak allowance — a partial credit on your water bill — if you can show the leak was hidden, has been repaired by a licensed plumber, and you provide proof of the repair. We can provide the documentation you need to apply.
Not always. We narrow down the leak location using pressure testing and listening equipment before we dig. In many cases the leak is under the lawn and we only need to dig a small trench. If the pipe runs under a concrete driveway, we'll discuss options before we start.
Most underground leak repairs are completed in half a day to a full day, depending on the depth of the pipe, the type of repair needed, and whether the full line needs replacing. We'll give you a clear idea of the timeframe once we've assessed the job on site.
Need a Plumber? Call 0800 322 322 — we'll sort it.
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