Affinity Water supplies most of Hertfordshire along with Luton and the Bedford area, and their letters about high usage or a suspected leak are the single most common reason people in Hertford, Stevenage and St Albans ring us. The letter tends to be polite, firm and short on detail about where the water is actually going.
Here is what the notice means, where the line sits between the company's pipe and yours, how to check the meter before you spend anything, what the leak usually turns out to be in this part of the country, how it is pinpointed without digging up the drive, and what your home insurance may cover.
Why Affinity Water wrote to you
Affinity Water compare each meter reading with your previous ones. A reading that is far above your normal pattern triggers a letter. If they have fitted a smart meter, they can also see continuous flow through the night, which is a leak signature, because nobody uses water steadily at 3am.
Some notices follow a visit from one of their inspectors. If the inspector has watched the meter with your supply shut off at the house and seen it still turning, the letter will say a leak has been identified on your supply pipe. That is a finding, not a guess, and it points to the pipe between the meter and the house.
Who owns which pipe, and so who pays
Affinity Water are responsible for the water main in the road and the communication pipe from the main to the boundary of your property. The boundary stop tap, which is often also where the meter sits, is the usual dividing line. Everything on the house side of it is the supply pipe, and that is the owner's.
So a leak on the supply pipe, however far from the house, is yours to find and repair, and the water that has run through the meter is on your bill. A leak on the communication pipe, or a leaking stop tap on the pavement side, is for Affinity Water to fix, and it is worth asking them to check their fittings first if the wet patch is on the pavement.
If you are a tenant, the supply pipe is the landlord's problem but the bill is usually in your name, so the letter comes to you. Forward it to the landlord or agent the same day. In a block of flats the shared supply pipe is normally the freeholder's.
• Main and communication pipe: Affinity Water
• Boundary stop tap and meter: check the letter, usually the company
• Supply pipe to the house: the owner
• Pipework inside the house: the owner
• Rented property: the landlord, but the bill is in the tenant's name
Test the meter before you spend anything
The meter is almost always in a chamber in the pavement or just inside the front boundary. Lift the lid, and if there is a polystyrene insulation plug lift that too. Turn off every tap and appliance, then read the meter and watch the small turning indicator. Read it again after an hour. Any change means water is passing through.
Then close the internal stop tap, usually under the kitchen sink, and repeat. If the indicator stops moving, the leak is inside the house. If it carries on, the leak is on the supply pipe between the chamber and the house, typically under the front garden, path or drive.
Keep the readings and the times. If you ring us, Charlie will ask for them. They tell him whether to arrive set up for a buried supply pipe, which means acoustic equipment and pipe tracing, or for an internal pipe, which is more often thermal imaging and a pressure test.
What the leak usually is in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire
This is chalk and clay country with hard water, and the pipework reflects it. The older streets in Hertford, Ware, Hitchin and St Albans still have a lot of lead and galvanised iron supply pipes, which corrode and split. The water soaks straight into the chalk and never surfaces. These are the jobs the inspector's letter is usually about.
On the post-war and new town housing in Stevenage, Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield and the Luton estates the supply pipe is more often plastic, and the leak is at a joint where it comes up under the kitchen or at a compression fitting on the stop tap. Underfloor runs through the concrete slab are common on 1960s and 1970s houses.
How the leak is pinpointed
Charlie starts by isolating systems one at a time: the supply at the stop tap, the heating with a pressure gauge, then the hot water. Whichever one drops pressure is the one leaking. That takes the guesswork out of the rest of the visit and often takes less than half an hour.
For a supply pipe, the route is traced first if it is not known, then a ground microphone is walked along it with the pipe under pressure. The sound of water escaping is loudest directly above the leak, and that spot is marked for the groundworker. Nothing is dug until the leak is pinpointed.
For an internal pipe or a heating circuit, the thermal camera picks out the pipe run through the floor and the patch of damp around the break. Where the pipe can be drained, tracer gas is put in and a detector follows it to the escape point. The floor is opened in one place.
The written report shows the location, how it was found and photographs, and it goes to your plumber or builder, to the insurer and back to Affinity Water. If no leak is found there is no charge for the visit: no find, no fee.
Insurance, the bill and the deadline
Check your home insurance for trace and access cover. It is in most buildings policies and pays for finding the leak and reinstating what was disturbed to get at it. The pipe repair itself is usually separate. Ring the insurer before the visit so the claim is open, and ask whether they want to approve the engineer first.
For the bill, send Affinity Water the report and the repair invoice with the dates. What they take off, if anything, is governed by their own allowance rules. Check the letter or the company's website for the current position and the time limit for asking.
Where we have found these leaks for Affinity Water customers
Recent jobs in the Affinity Water area include Bengeo and Hertford Heath in Hertford, Great Amwell near Ware, Bernards Heath and Clarence in St Albans, Codicote and Graveley between Stevenage and Hitchin, Borehamwood, and Barnfield and Bramingham in Luton. Bedford side jobs have come from Henlow and Clifton.
Haverhill is about 45 miles from Hertford, and we can usually book you in within 24 to 48 hours, so do not wait for the insurer before booking if the letter gives a deadline. Ring 07897 020 680 with the letter in front of you and Charlie will tell you what to do first.
Questions people ask
Does Affinity Water repair the supply pipe?
Not as a rule. The supply pipe from the boundary stop tap to the house is the owner’s, and the company’s job ends at the boundary. Some water companies run subsidised repair or first time fix schemes for supply pipes. Whether Affinity Water offer one, and on what terms, is on their website and sometimes in the letter itself.
Will I get the water I lost taken off the bill?
Possibly, for a limited period, if the leak is repaired promptly and you apply. The rules are the company’s and they change, so check the letter or the company’s website rather than assuming. A dated leak detection report and the repair invoice are what they normally want to see, whatever the scheme says.
My meter moves but there is no damp anywhere. Where is the water going?
Into the ground. A supply pipe under a front garden in Hertford or Luton can lose hundreds of litres a day into chalk without a single wet patch. If the meter stops when you close the internal stop tap the leak is inside, and it is usually a toilet, an overflow or a heating pipe the boiler keeps topping up.
How soon can you get to Stevenage, St Albans or Luton?
We take enquiries 24 hours a day and can usually book you in within 24 to 48 hours. Say what the letter says and what your meter test showed when you ring, and Charlie will arrive with the right equipment for a buried supply pipe or an internal leak on the first visit.