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

Section 6-3.432 of the Watsonville Municipal Code, titled Wasting of water, lists uses of water that are unlawful for any person. Subsection (b) is the leak rule: permitting the loss of water through leaks, breaks or malfunction within the customer's plumbing. The duty falls on the customer, whose plumbing starts at the meter. The section prints no deadline for reporting a leak to the City and no repair period, so the duty is to stop the loss, not to file a form.

Other sections in the City of Watsonville utility chapter shape how a customer handles a leak. Section 6-3.431 requires every customer to install an accessible water shut-off valve on the service line within five feet of the meter, and it prohibits the customer from operating the curb stop in the meter box except in an emergency. Section 6-3.420 says no adjustment can be made for any loss of water from a customer's water lines beyond the meter coupling without the approval of the Director. A leak on the customer side therefore does not earn an automatic bill credit.

Meter accuracy is a separate remedy. Under § 6-3.421 a customer can ask the City to test the meter and pays a testing fee, which is refunded if the meter registers more than two percent fast. Section 6-3.422(a) says a meter found registering two percent fast or more produces a refund or credit for the amount in error, covering no longer than the last twelve months before the test. Section 6-3.302 adds that water used in violation of City regulations is paid for by the customer at double the consumption charge established by Council resolution, so read § 6-3.432 together with it. Section 6-3.417 separately makes it unlawful to remove a water meter or take City water from any unmetered source.