Marin Water customer Anne V., of San Anselmo, did everything a person is supposed to do when they suspect a water leak in their home.  She used dye tablets in her toilet to check if the flapper valve was leaking , but her toilet passed the test. She checked her water meter, but the telltale low-flow indicator dial wasn’t moving. Nothing appeared to be amiss when it came to her outdoor irrigation, either.  

Saving water not only protects our most precious resource, it can also help customers save money on their water bills. So for Anne, who lives alone, with minimal irrigation needs and doesn’t consider herself wasteful, those early setbacks didn’t mark the end of her leak investigation. Instead, she visited the Marin Water website, and used a discount for District customers to buy a Flume Smart Home Water Monitor. The device, which strapped easily to Anne’s water meter and linked up with her smartphone, detected a costly leak within hours. 

Since Marin Water began partnering with Flume in May 2021 to help customers build sustainable water use habits, more than 3,000 Marin Water customers have purchased one of the discounted devices. And more than two years of data show many of these customers are experiencing the tool’s benefits: Flume customers use less water than their neighbors, and 70% of new customers found a leak using the devices. 

Through a WiFi connection, the device gives customers information about their water use, potential leaks and incidences of high-water use. You can even get leak notifications sent directly to your smartphone, enabling beneficial adjustments – like Anne’s – in real-time.  Anne’s Flume device told her it was in fact her toilet overflow valve that was causing a leak, nearly a gallon per hour. She later found a broken sprinkler head as well. After both items were addressed in October, Anne watched her most recent bi-monthly water bill drop by 40%.  

Now that her leaks have been taken care of, Anne is still interested in finding ways to reduce water use at her home. Using the Flume smartphone app has helped Anne learn more about how she uses water at home, while also inspiring her to use even less.  

“I was very surprised at how much water my drip system uses,” she said. “Since I’m a single person, I don’t use a lot of water. But I like checking the app, and I’m starting to compare week-to-week how much water I’m using.”

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