Carrollton, TX Water Use Rules: Leak Reporting Duty (2026)

Section 52.093, part of Chapter 52 (Water and Sewer Services) subchapter on landscape water management, states plainly: 'A person commits an offense if he/she allows exterior plumbing leaks to exist.' The duty runs to anyone who owns, leases, or manages the property, so a landlord cannot point to a tenant to avoid responsibility, and vice versa. The section was adopted by Ordinance 2968 on April 19, 2005, and has not been amended since.

The city does build in relief for people actively dealing with a leak. Under Section 52.093(C), the City Manager or a designee may grant a variance from the exterior-leak prohibition in cases of extreme hardship, but only if the applicant signs a compliance agreement, the variance will not meaningfully cut into the city's water supply, and the hardship relates to health, safety, or welfare. Section 52.093(D) lets the city revoke that variance if the compliance agreement is broken or if public health, safety, or welfare requires it.

Fixing the leak also matters for your water bill. Section 52.054(B) states that a billing adjustment can reach back beyond the normal three-calendar-month window only when the customer has met all requirements of the city's Water Leak Adjustment Policy under the Water Conservation and Drought Contingency Plan referenced at Section 52.020. The Utility Billing Department must respond to a written adjustment request within ten business days of receiving all necessary information, per Section 52.054(C).