Fix a Leak Week is intended to remind Americans to identify and repair leaks in their household plumbing fixtures and irrigation systems. The City of Carrollton Public Works Department promots water conservation and efficiency as a way to reduce costs and to protect existing water supplies.

Do you have a leak?

• Walk through your house and listen for running toilets and look for drippy faucets. To tell if your toilet has a leak, place a drop of food coloring in the tank. If the color shows in the toilet bowl without flushing, you have a leak.
• Check your winter water use. It’s likely a family of four has a serious leak if winter water use exceeds 36,000 gallons per quarter.
• If you're unsure whether you have a leak, read your water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter changes, you probably have a leak.

What can You do?
Replace products in your home with WaterSense-labeled plumbing fixtures. Environmental Protection Agency estimates a family of four can save more than $90 per year in reduced water and sewer utility bills by replacing older toilets (1994 or earlier) with WaterSense models.

Grab a wrench or contact your favorite handy person to address leaking toilets, faucets and other plumbing fixtures around your home. A leaky faucet that drips at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons per year. That’s enough water to flush a WaterSense-labeled toilet for six months!

Save Water, Save Energy
It takes a lot of energy to deliver and treat the water you use everyday. Letting your faucet run for five minutes uses about as much energy as leaving a 60-watt light bulb on for 14 hours. By reducing household water use you can reduce the energy required to supply and treat public water supplies.

The average American home can waste as much as 11,000 gallons of water every year due to running toilets, dripping faucets, and other household leaks. But you can nip that drip in the bud. Learn how at www.epa.gov/watersense/fixaleak.