Leak Detection
East London
Most leak detection East London households ask for starts with a high water bill or a meter that never stops. We trace it to the exact spot and write up the leak and the repair, which is what Buffalo City's leak rebate asks for.
Request a call-out
How a hidden leak is found
Narrow it down, pinpoint it, then open one place only.
Leak detection starts at the water meter. With every tap, toilet and appliance closed, a meter that still turns proves water is escaping somewhere on your side. Closing off sections of the property in turn then narrows it down: the supply line from the meter, the geyser, a toilet cistern, a pipe under the floor or in a wall.
Pinpointing uses the method that suits the place: acoustic listening for buried and in-slab pipes, thermal imaging for hot-water pipes in walls and floors, and pressure testing to prove a section is leaking before anyone opens it. The aim is one small, precise opening instead of a trench across the garden.
Toilets and geyser overflows are the quiet ones. A cistern that never quite stops filling can waste water for months without a single wet patch, so it is checked before anything is dug up. Leaks on a pool or its auto-fill line have their own page: pool leak detection.
The bill, the rebate and the by‑law
How Buffalo City's billing turns a hidden leak into a large account, and what it takes to get half of it back.
Buffalo City charges domestic water in rising blocks. In its 2025/26 tariff book, the first 6 kl cost R29.86 a kilolitre and everything above 30 kl costs R68.78. A leak does not just add water to the bill; it pushes the whole month into the expensive blocks.
It can also hide. In 2016 the Daily Dispatch reported that as many as 80% of the metro's meters were probably not being read regularly, with unread meters billed a flat interim amount. In 2020 estimated readings produced bills of R12,000 to R15,000 and a petition with 2,300 signatures. The metro's own planning documents say manual meter reading puts accuracy at risk and that interim bills are raised on unread meters, part of the reason it has been installing smart meters. When a leak runs under estimated bills, the first real reading can carry months of it at once.
There is a way back. Buffalo City's tariff policy grants an underground leak rebate that shares the cost of a proven hidden leak equally with the owner. The conditions are strict. The leak must not be visible and must be on the property's primary plumbing; irrigation and automatic top-ups to pools, ponds and fountains are excluded. The rebate covers the last three bills based on actual readings, and the owner must supply a certificate stating the exact location of the leak, its nature and the steps taken to repair it. Each property is limited to two claims in twelve months and three in total.
Meanwhile, the water by-law makes a leak on your side of the connection your responsibility and allows the metro to give as little as three days' notice before repairing it and billing you. If you ask Buffalo City to inspect your property for leaks, its 2025/26 fee is R2,658.51 a visit.
If your bill has jumped, read the meter twice, an hour apart, with nothing running. If it moved, the leak is on your side, and the report that finds it is the same document the rebate asks for.
Found, proved and written up
So the repair and the rebate both work.
The meter test before anything else
A meter reading with everything closed, then another an hour later, shows whether there is a leak on your side at all. If there is not, you know the bill is a question for the metro, not a plumber.
One opening, not a trench
Nothing is broken until the leak has been pinpointed. The quote names the one spot we need to open and how it gets closed again.
A report the metro can use
The exact location, the nature of the leak and the repair, in writing with photographs: the three things the rebate certificate has to state.
The repair priced on the spot
As soon as the leak is found you get the repair price in writing, so you can decide on the same visit.
How leak detection works
From the meter to the exact spot.
- 1
Meter test
Everything off, the meter watched. A moving meter confirms a leak on your side.
- 2
Narrow it down
Sections closed off one at a time: supply line, geyser, toilets, the pipes under the house.
- 3
Pinpoint
Acoustic, thermal or pressure testing on the suspect section, marked on the floor, wall or ground.
- 4
Report and repair
The leak photographed and written up, the repair priced and, once you agree, done.
Leak detection questions
Most of them are about the bill.
How much does leak detection cost in East London?
National guides put professional leak detection at about R1,500 to R2,500, and electronic detection at R1,200 to R4,500 depending on the property. For comparison, Buffalo City's own fee to inspect a property for leaks at the owner's request is R2,658.51 a visit in 2025/26. You hear our price on the call back, after we ask about the property.
How do I know if I have a hidden leak?
Close every tap and make sure no toilet is filling, the washing machine is off and nobody is using water. Read the meter, wait an hour, and read it again. If the numbers moved, water is leaking on your side of the meter.
Can I get money back from the municipality for a leak?
Possibly. Buffalo City's underground leak rebate splits the cost of a proven hidden leak with the owner, for the last three bills based on actual readings. You need a certificate stating where the leak was, what it was and how it was repaired, and leaks on irrigation and pool or pond top-ups do not qualify.
Is the leak my responsibility or Buffalo City's?
A leak on your side of the connection is yours to repair under the water by-law. A leak in the street or before your meter is the municipality's: report it to Buffalo City with a photograph.
Do you have to break walls or floors to find a leak?
Not to find it: detection is done from the surface. The repair needs access at one point, usually a small opening exactly where the leak is, and the quote says what will be opened and how it will be made good.
My meter turns but I cannot see water anywhere. Where is it going?
Check the toilets first: a cistern that keeps trickling into the bowl is easy to miss. Then the geyser's overflow pipe outside. After that, an underground line, which can drain into the soil or a stormwater pipe and never show at all.
Could a high bill be a meter or billing error instead?
It can. That is why the meter test matters: if the meter stands still with everything closed, there is no leak on your side, and the question goes to Buffalo City's billing office, with photographs of your readings.
Request a call-out
Tell us what is happening and where. We phone you back to confirm a time and what we are bringing.
There is no phone line on this website on purpose: every request lands with a person who phones you back, so nothing depends on catching someone between jobs.
Where we work in East London
A service-area business: we come to you, anywhere in the suburbs below and the rest of Buffalo City.
City centre and beachfront
CBD, Quigney, Arcadia, North End, Belgravia, Southernwood, Panmure
Berea side
Selborne, Berea, Vincent, Vincent Heights, Stirling, Bunkers Hill, Baysville, Woodleigh
Nahoon to Gonubie
Nahoon, Nahoon Valley, Bonnie Doon, Abbotsford, Dorchester Heights, Beacon Bay, Bonza Bay, Gonubie, Sunrise-on-Sea
West and north-west
Cambridge, Chiselhurst, Amalinda, Haven Hills, Braelyn, Buffalo Flats, Scenery Park, Reeston, Mdantsane
West Bank and the coast
West Bank, Greenfields, Sunnyridge, Woodbrook, Cove Rock, Winterstrand, Kidd's Beach
Industrial areas
Wilsonia, East London IDZ, Braelyn Industrial