How to Report a Water Leak or Burst Water Main

Here at Coastal Drains, we have had years of experience in working with leaking pipes and drains, and we know that there are occasions where these need to be reported to a local authority instead of a drainage firm. This is why we have provided a guide on how to report a water leak or burst water main in your street or road.

If you have a leak somewhere on your property and you already know that you’re responsible for getting it fixed, get in touch with us today. We have a highly trained and fully qualified team of engineers ready and waiting to carry out the work for you.

Identifying a Water Leak and Determining Responsibility

If you suspect there is a water leak somewhere around your property, or even a burst water main just outside your property boundary, there are a number of signs that you can watch out for to know for sure. These include:

• Wet spots in your property interior
• Musty and unpleasant smells in your interior
• Damp drywall
• Sounds like bubbling in toilets or sinks and whistling, banging or clanking noises coming from your pipes
• Water pooling in the street
• Water pooling in your garden
• Cracks in the foundation of your home
• An unusually high reading on your water meter
• Unusually high water bills
• Low water pressure
  

Once you have discovered a leak on or around your property, naturally your thoughts will turn to getting it repaired and calling a professional drainage company to tackle the task. However, depending on where the problem pipe is located, this may not be your responsibility.

If the source of the leak is located inside your property boundary, either in your garden (if there is a crack or fault in your supply pipe) or actually in the interior of your home or business, it will be your responsibility to ensure that it gets repaired. This duty may fall to your landlord if you rent your property, or may even be shared by your neighbours if you use the same water supply pipe. In these cases, we would highly recommend checking your tenancy agreement or title deeds, to ensure that you know exactly who needs to pay.

If the leaking or burst water main is located outside your property boundary (in the road or street in front of your property), it will be up to your local water authority to fix it. All you will need to do is report the leak to them. 

Need Help to Find a Leak?

If you’re unsure where the leak is coming from, or only suspect that a pipe is leaking on your property, you may need to get in touch with an expert firm that specialises in leak detection to confirm it. Fortunately, this is something we can offer you at Coastal Drains, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need a leak found and fixed. 

The leak detection and CCTV inspection services we carry out will provide accurate footage of the inside of your drains, letting us help you by ensuring the problem is taken care of as quickly as possible.

How to Report a Burst Water Main to Your Local Water Board

The methods of reporting a mains water leak may differ, depending on which water board oversees your area. Most will have an online form for you to fill out, with many offering an interactive map to pinpoint the exact location of the leak you have found. The water board will then use this information to investigate and fix leaks that they have a duty to repair. 

Local water services will also usually offer an emergency number to call, so you can speak to a member of their staff. You will normally be encouraged to give as many details about the mains water leak as possible when you make a call, as this helps them to find and fix leaks quicker than it would have taken otherwise.

To find out who supplies your water locally, type in your postcode at Water UK.

What Happens if the Water Leak is Your Responsibility?

If the leak is not in the road or street outside your property and is located inside your property boundary, it will be up to you to ensure that the problem is fixed. This means finding a reliable drainage firm that regularly repairs leaks in pipes and has a range of solutions that are suitable for any drainage problem. 

For Help With Water Leaks on Your Property

If you need to report a water leak on your property and you want it repaired quickly and efficiently by a reliable, pragmatic team of engineers, Coastal Drains is here for you. We will make sure the leak is located swiftly via a state-of-the-art CCTV drain survey, before choosing the most suitable of our methods to ensure that the problem is fixed and your drains are flowing exactly as they should.

Our services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so if you suddenly spot a leak that has sprung up somewhere on your property, get in touch with us right away. We can have our team sent to you in no time.