Hanover County, VA Water Use Rules: Leak Reporting Duty (2026)

Hanover County Code § 23-64 makes clear that, starting from meter installation, all water passing through a meter is charged whether it is used or wasted, with only firefighting water excepted. The duty to act sits with the owner, agent or tenant: where leaks or water losses occur in water pipes, plumbing systems or metered services, that person must promptly make all necessary repairs before the director of public utilities will consider any rebate. If repairs are prompt, the director may rebate the amount billed in excess of double the premises' average monthly or bimonthly consumption.

That average is calculated by averaging the bimonthly bills for the same billing cycle over the previous three years; if that history is not available, the average instead comes from the first full billing period after repairs are completed. The rebate has hard limits: no rebate is allowed for leaks attributed to irrigation systems, no adjustment may bring the bill below what is needed to cover the volume, administrative and other costs of the water actually delivered, and leak adjustments are capped at once every two years per customer unless the director finds an extreme hardship.

This sits alongside § 23-65, which covers the separate case of a meter that chokes or fails to register, billing the customer the average of the preceding six months' consumption instead, and § 23-66, which adds a ten percent penalty on any water charge, including an unrebated leak overage, left unpaid thirty-one days after the billing date.