Cash In The Pipes? Water Districts Offer Free Efficiency Inspections

Many water districts in the Sacramento area are offering to come to your home and find ways to save money for free.

Scot Crocker asked for a water-wise house call from the Sacramento Department of Utilities to check his home's water efficiency.

We think, as we bought the house that everything was going to be water-efficient, but I don't know if it's water-efficient or not," he said.

Specialists like Ryan Geach will come to your home for free to check your fixtures and appliances for leaks and tell you where you might be able to save more water.

"I went to a business in the Del Paso Heights area and two toilets were losing—one was losing about 3,000, the other was losing about 5,000," Geach said. "That was about 5,000 gallons a day that I saved there."

So far everything seems to be on the up and up at Scot's house. The search found a $100 rebate he was entitled to for his new washer.

Outside, Scot wanted help with his irrigation system, which he thought he turned off to save water. Geach looked for a second timer, but it was nowhere to be found, so he turned it off and promised to come back in the spring to investigate again.

Geach says plenty of people are calling in for his services. He has a week and a half backlog.

Conservation specialists like him can also check for broken sprinkler heads, help set up your timer and tell you how much watering time your lawn needs.