Melbourne, FL Water Use Rules: Leak Reporting Duty (2026)

Section 58-137 gives the city manager discretion, not an automatic entitlement, to adjust a residential or commercial water bill when a spike in consumption traces to a leak the account holder could not repair "in a timely manner" and that did not involve negligence on the customer's part. The section sets a two-part numeric test for "excessive water consumption": the billed usage must exceed the average of the previous six months by at least 100 percent, and the overage itself must be at least 10,000 gallons above that six-month average. Both conditions must be met before the city manager will consider a credit.

The account holder carries the burden of acting fast: Section 58-137(2) requires a written adjustment request within 60 days of the date of the bill showing the excessive consumption, or the adjustment right lapses. Section 58-12 cross-references this leak-adjustment standard, authorizing the city manager to grant broader relief only when a customer's situation falls outside the specific criteria of Section 58-137 or its sewer-bill counterpart, Section 58-243(d), which applies the identical 100-percent test to sewer charges caused by leaking service lines, defective fixtures, or pool filling.

A customer who disagrees with the city manager's adjustment decision is not without recourse. Section 58-138(b)(1)d. lists a "determination by the city manager as to any adjustments made to water bills based on excessive water consumption as provided in section 58-137" as an appealable decision, and the appeal goes to the planning and zoning board within 30 days of the determination.