Richland, WA Water Use Rules: Leak Reporting Duty (2026)

RMC § 18.16.060 puts an immediate duty on Richland water customers: notify the Public Works Department as soon as service is unsatisfactory or an accident, defect, or trouble affects the water supply or the customer's equipment or lines. That duty sits alongside RMC § 18.16.020, which separately obligates every customer to repair, or have repaired, any defective or leaking pipes or plumbing fixtures so water is not wasted. To soften the financial hit of a leak once it is fixed, RMC § 18.20.020 lets customers apply for a bill adjustment on an undetected outdoor plumbing leak.

The credit is limited to 50 percent of the metered consumption that exceeds the account's average usage for the same billing period over the previous two years, and it can be applied to no more than two billing periods; no adjustment is available if the excess use is under 40 water-consumption units. To qualify, the customer must complete and submit the water bill adjustment application, identify the meter-reading date that revealed the leak, and provide documentation of the repair, including a site map locating the leak on the property and receipts for the repair materials or service.

A customer who already received a leak adjustment at the same address within the previous two years is not eligible again. Public Works also retains authority under RMC § 18.16.040 to discontinue service to a customer whose water use, including an unrepaired leak that impairs service to others, is not corrected.