Fairfield, CA Water Use Rules: Leak Reporting Duty (2026)
Key Facts
- Rule
- promptly repair any "controllable" leak
- Covers
- customer-owned plumbing and irrigation
- Excludes
- City-owned meter and mains
- In effect
- at all times, not just droughts
- Enforcing office
- Fairfield Municipal Utility director
- Repeat shortage-stage violation
- flow restrictor for 2 months
Summary
Fairfield bans failing to promptly repair a "controllable water leak" under City Code Section 22.55.020(A), covering any leak inside a customer's own plumbing or irrigation system. The duty runs at all times, not just during declared shortages, and does not extend to city-owned equipment like the water meter.
Failure by any person to promptly repair a controllable water leak shall be prohibited. A "controllable" water leak is defined as any leak occurring from the customer’s water system including plumbing and irrigation fixtures for which the customer owns and/or is responsible. This definition includes the entire water system within the boundaries of the customer’s property. For example, broken sprinkler heads, leaking hose bibs, or broken water lines (under the customer’s home) are considered controllable water leaks. A person is not responsible for any portion of the system owned by the City or other public agency (e.g., water meter).
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: rev 4962673; v0 updated 2026-02-17).
Full Breakdown
020 lists the standing prohibitions that follow from that policy. The first is the leak-repair duty: a customer who fails to promptly fix a controllable leak is in violation. The code defines "controllable" broadly, reaching the entire water system within a customer's property boundary, plumbing and irrigation alike, and gives concrete examples: broken sprinkler heads, leaking hose bibs, and broken water lines under a home. The same subsection draws the line at the property boundary, expressly relieving customers of responsibility for any part of the system the City or another public agency owns, such as the water meter itself.
window during daylight saving time, irrigation that causes runoff or that happens within 48 hours of measurable rain is barred, hosing off hardscapes is barred except for health and safety, and non-recirculating car wash, laundry, cooling, and fountain systems are barred outright. 020 rules are not tied to any declared emergency; they apply year-round as a standing water-waste rule enforced by the Fairfield Municipal Utility.
Violations & Fines
Section 22.05.030 gives the FMU director general authority to enforce this chapter and states that enforcement and penalties may be applied to secure compliance with any Section 22.55 violation, including an unrepaired leak. Separately, if a leak violation recurs during a City Council-declared water shortage emergency, Section 22.60.020(B) lets FMU install a flow restrictor on the customer's service line for two months on a fourth violation within that shortage stage, with the customer bearing the installation and removal cost.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as a "controllable" leak I have to fix in Fairfield?
Am I responsible for a leaking water meter?
Does this rule only apply during a drought?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Fairfield
California rules heatmap·Compare Fairfield to another location·View the California water use rules overview
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How other cities in Solano County handle leak reporting duty.