La Habra, CA Water Use Rules: Leak Reporting Duty (2026)

Section 13.40.070(G), part of the city's permanent water conservation requirements under the Water Shortage Contingency Response chapter, treats an unrepaired leak, break or other plumbing malfunction as an unreasonable use of water and a form of waste, in force at all times regardless of drought status. The repair duty rests on the water 'customer,' defined in Section 13.40.030 as any water customer or water user of city-supplied potable water, and it applies whether the current period is a routine restriction or a declared water shortage emergency, since subsection G sits among the chapter's 'permanent' requirements that remain in force at every shortage level.

The ordinance ties the required speed of repair to whichever water supply shortage level the city council or city manager has currently declared under Sections 13.40.080 through .090, meaning a customer must act faster once the city has declared a higher shortage level. A customer may negotiate a different repair timeline directly with the city under the closing clause of subsection G. The city may also track a customer's failure to fix a leak through the water waste hotline established under Section 13.40.140(C), and can require a written water conservation plan from any customer using twenty-five thousand or more billing units a year under Section 13.40.140(B).