How many gallons is that leak?

This is an estimate, not a bill or a diagnosis. It takes about a minute, and nothing you enter is saved.

Water pouring, a sagging ceiling, or water near outlets or wiring? Skip the calculator. Shut off your main water valve if you can do it safely, stay away from wet electrical, and call a plumber now.

1What's leaking?

How fast is it dripping?

Not sure? Count the drips for 15 seconds and multiply by 4.

2For how long?

3Who supplies your water?

Water company

Not sure? The company's name is on your water bill. If your bill charges per 100 gallons, multiply that rate by 10.

Result

0gallons

= 1 gallon

Added to your water bill

Water usage charges only. Many homes also pay a separate sewer bill to their township or sewer authority, and some sewer bills go up with water use.

Compared with a typical home

A typical Aqua home uses about 3,870 gallons a month.

Leak rate

gallons a day

Find the leak this week

Toilet dye test. Put a few drops of food coloring in the tank. If color shows up in the bowl within 10 minutes without flushing, the flapper is leaking. Flush right after so it doesn't stain. EPA WaterSense
Check a winter bill. If a family of four uses more than 12,000 gallons in January or February, there could be a serious leak. EPA WaterSense
Read your meter twice. Check the water meter before and after two hours when no one uses any water. If the reading changes, you probably have a leak. EPA WaterSense

For what a plumber checks and how leaks get fixed, read our leak detection and repair guide.

Find a Bucks County plumber for leak repair →

How we calculated this, and our sources

Drips to gallons: USGS estimates a faucet drip at 1/4 milliliter, or 15,140 drips per gallon. Drip sizes vary. EPA estimates a faucet dripping once a second wastes more than 3,000 gallons a year, so real drips can be bigger than this estimate. USGS Drip Calculator · EPA Fix a Leak Week
Running toilet: "could be wasting 200 gallons of water or more every day." EPA WaterSense family fact sheet
Sprinkler line leak: a leak 1/32 of an inch in diameter "can waste about 6,300 gallons of water per month." EPA Fix a Leak Week
Aqua Pennsylvania: residential usage charge of $19.233 per 1,000 gallons above the first 2,000 gallons a month, Rate Zones 1 and 2, effective Feb. 22, 2025, and unchanged in Aqua's July 1, 2026, tariff. A leak sits on top of normal use, so we use that rate. Small surcharges are not included. Aqua PA rates and tariffs. Typical home, 3,870 gallons a month: Pa. PUC, Feb. 7, 2025.
Pennsylvania American Water: residential usage charge of $1.9952 per 100 gallons ($19.952 per 1,000 gallons), Rate Zone 1, effective Aug. 13, 2026. Small surcharges are not included. Pennsylvania American Water rates. Typical home, 3,263 gallons a month: Pa. PUC, Dec. 4, 2025.
Other companies and authorities: enter the usage rate from your own bill. We compare with the Pennsylvania American Water typical home.
Leak checks: dye test, winter bill, and meter check from EPA Fix a Leak Week.
Rates checked Oct. 7, 2026. Last reviewed Oct. 7, 2026. This is an estimate, not a bill.