Leander Water Restrictions and Hidden Leaks

Leander is one of the fastest-growing cities in Texas, and keeping up with water demand has been a long-running challenge. The city gets much of its water from Lake Travis through the Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority, shared with Cedar Park and Round Rock. When that system is under strain, the city asks residents to cut use through its water conservation plan.

In February 2024, Leander moved to Phase 4 and banned all outdoor watering while the regional raw-water pipeline was replaced. Shutting down the BCRUA plant cut Leander's drinking water capacity from about 24 million gallons a day to 9. Residents were asked to turn off irrigation and limit nonessential use until the work was finished in early April.

During restrictions, households cut lawn watering, shorten showers and wait for full loads of laundry. A hidden leak ignores all of that. A slab leak or a broken service line can lose water every hour of the day, and because it is out of sight, it can run for weeks before anyone connects the rising bill to a leak.

That water is billed as normal usage. The City of Leander may credit part of it through a leak adjustment after a repair, but only within its limits, and irrigation use is never eligible. The fastest way to protect both your bill and the city's supply is to find the leak quickly.

The water meter is the honest judge. Turn off every fixture and appliance, shut the irrigation controller off and close the backflow valve, then watch the meter for two minutes. If it moves, something is leaking. If it stops when you close the irrigation valve, the leak is in the sprinkler system. If it keeps moving with the house main closed, the leak is on the buried water line from the meter. If it stops with the house main closed, the leak is inside the house.

Sprinkler systems are a common source of hidden waste: a cracked head, a broken lateral line or a valve that never fully closes. When outdoor watering is banned, an irrigation leak shows up as wet patches you did not cause. When watering is allowed, it can hide among normal use. Either way, it does not qualify for a leak adjustment, so it pays to catch it early.

Long dry spells, especially with an outdoor watering ban, let the clay around foundations dry and shrink. When rain or watering returns, it swells again. Those swings put stress on pipes under the slab, so the months after a long dry period are a good time to do the meter test.

Leander and its partners are building more capacity, including a regional deep water intake on Lake Travis expected to be finished around 2027. As the city keeps growing, conservation will stay part of life here, and finding leaks at home will stay part of that.

Restrictions are a good reminder to look at every way water leaves the house. Fix running toilets and dripping faucets, which the city does not credit anyway. Check irrigation heads for breaks before the watering season. And do the meter test every few months. A leak found during a restriction period is a leak that stops wasting water when supply is tight, and one that will not quietly double your next bill.

Comparing bills month to month is easier when you note the gallons used, not just the dollar amount. Rates and seasonal use change the total, but gallons show the real trend, and a steady climb with no change at home points to a leak.

Call for help finding the leak. If it is inside the house, slab leak detection in Leander is usually the next step; if it is between the meter and the house, the buried line is traced. You can read about every service on the main leak detection Leander page.