People are talking about it now because of a recent water rate hike by Chaparral City Water Company and its parent EPCOR in Fountain Hills.

But water bill “sticker shock” can really happen at any time.

You open your bill one month and see the water company claims you used an extreme amount of water over normal usage.

You check around the house – no faucets dripping, the toilets are not leaking, no sprinkler heads missing and drip heads are all in place – there is no apparent leak or leaks, so the water meter must be broken.

CCWC checks the meter and much to your frustration says it is working just fine. The water company provides an audit kit and other advice in helping determine why the spike in water use, but maybe you need the help of a plumber.

Bob Travis has been plumbing in Fountain Hills since 1977 and has been around a water leak or two.

“First thing you do is turn off all the water in the house and go to the water meter,” Travis said. “All water meters have a leak detector that moves with just the slightest flow.”

This detector is usually a triangle shape in red or white or a small wheel-like device. If that is moving with all the water off there is a leak somewhere.

“It could be as simple as a toilet or faucet drip,” Travis said.

If there is an automatic filler on the pool it should be shut off. Turn off the water to the irrigation system.

There could be a leak in the pool that otherwise would not be detectable. Water features might be another place where water is getting away.

One reason the town is rebuilding the median on Avenue of the Fountains is that the old water features were leaking about 250,000 gallons of water per year, and there was no water running down the street.

Look for wet spots around the irrigation system, although that might not help. Water will probably not pool on the surface of this Sonoran Desert soil.

Jame French, director of customer operations for EPCOR, said an irrigation leak in this soil can go straight down and never surface -- or if does it might come to the surface a long way from the source.

Slab leaks are also not uncommon in Fountain Hills.

Homes built here 30-40 years ago may not have had the best materials used and the rocky soil could easily work its way through a pipe. That is a situation EPCOR found with some of the under street water mains it inherited from the previous owners of CCWC.

Travis said he gets a call every couple of weeks from someone needing help with a leak.

CCWC can provide some help, but sophisticated leak detection will need to come from a plumber.

Cost, according to Travis, will depend on how difficult it is to find the leak, but he says the one-time cost is better than the ongoing high water bills.