May 6, 2026 — Burleson, TX

If you opened your water bill this month and did a double take, you’re not alone. Spring is the season when South DFW homeowners get hit with the biggest unexpected jumps — sometimes two, three, even five times a normal month. The good news: there’s almost always a specific reason, and most of them are fixable.

Here’s what we see most often when a homeowner calls us about a sudden water bill spike, and how to figure out which one is yours.

The Most Common Cause: A Hidden Leak You Can’t See

The leaks you can hear or see usually get caught quickly. The ones that quietly run up a bill for weeks before anyone notices are the hidden ones — and they fall into a few specific categories:

• Slab leaks — a leak in a copper or PEX line under your home’s foundation. Often silent, often invisible, and can waste hundreds of gallons a day.
• Underground irrigation leaks — a broken sprinkler head, a cracked supply line, or a stuck valve running long after the system shuts off.
• Outside faucet (hose bib) leaks — especially common in spring, when freeze damage from winter shows up the first time someone turns the spigot on.
• Running toilets — a flapper that doesn’t seal can run continuously without you ever hearing it.
• Water heater leaks — a slow tank leak in the garage or attic that drains down a floor drain instead of pooling somewhere visible.

Why Spring Is the Worst Month for Water Bill Surprises

A few things converge in April and May:

• Winter freeze damage shows up. A pipe that cracked in January’s cold snap may not start leaking until things thaw and pressure returns to normal.
• Irrigation systems come back online. If a sprinkler line cracked over the winter, the first watering cycle of the year can dump hundreds of gallons before anyone notices.
• Foundation movement. South DFW’s clay soil shifts heavily through freeze-thaw cycles. That movement is the single biggest cause of slab leaks in this area — and they often go undetected until the bill arrives.
• Outdoor water use returns. Hose bibs, pool fills, garden watering — all the leaks that were dormant all winter come back into the picture.

How to Check for a Hidden Leak Yourself

Before calling anyone, try this 30-minute test:

• Make sure no water is running in the house — no toilets refilling, no dishwasher, no ice maker, no irrigation.
• Find your water meter (usually at the curb in a covered box).
• Look at the small leak indicator dial — often a triangle or a small wheel. If it’s spinning at all, water is moving somewhere.
• Write down the meter reading, wait 30–60 minutes without using any water, and check it again. Any change means you have a leak.

If the meter is moving, the next step is figuring out where. Shut off the valve to your irrigation system and re-check — if the leak stops, it’s outside. If it keeps moving with the irrigation off, it’s inside the house, in the yard line, or under the slab.

Need a plumber today? Call 817-447-2654 — phones are answered around the clock and we’ll get someone scheduled fast.

When to Call a Plumber Instead of Hunting It Yourself

A running toilet you can usually fix yourself in 20 minutes. A leaky outside faucet is often a $25 part. But some leaks need diagnostic equipment to find — and trying to chase them blind costs more in time, drywall, and torn-up landscaping than just calling someone with the right tools.

Call a plumber when:

• The meter test shows water moving but you can’t find a visible source.
• You hear running water in the walls or floor with everything turned off.
• You see warm spots on tile or wood floors (a sign of a hot-water slab leak).
• Your water pressure has dropped along with the bill spike.
• There are unexplained damp spots on the foundation, baseboards, or in the yard.

Slab leaks specifically are our specialty — other plumbers in the area regularly call us in to locate slab leaks they can’t pinpoint themselves. If you suspect one, get it diagnosed quickly. Every day a slab leak runs is more water on the bill and more potential damage to the foundation.

What to Do First

If your bill jumped and you don’t know why, start with the meter test above. If the meter is moving with everything off, you have a leak somewhere. From there, the question is whether it’s something you can spot in 10 minutes or something that needs a plumber’s leak detection equipment.

Either way, don’t wait on it. Hidden leaks don’t fix themselves, and the longer one runs the more it costs — both on the next bill and in damage to the home.

Call Dependable Plumbing at 817-447-2654 for fast, accurate leak detection in Burleson, Crowley, Joshua, Everman, Alvarado, Arlington, Fort Worth, Keene, Mansfield, Kennedale, Rendon, Godley — and surrounding South DFW communities. Family-owned and serving the area since 1985.