Spotlight on the Home Water Leak Repair Program: Get your leaks fixed for free!

It's Fix a Leak Week and what better way to celebrate than getting help with your leak repairs?

The Water Bureau's Home Water Leak Repair Program has been helping qualifying homeowners fix leaks since 1998. The program has grown over the years, but its mission remains the same: Remove financial barriers to leak repairs, helping customers protect their homes and save water and money.

Getting help with repairs is often a huge relief for the households we serve. Many community members contact the program after receiving a higher-than-usual water bill. For these customers, the cost of hiring a plumber to find and fix a leak on top of the cost of a high bill can be overwhelming.

The Home Water Leak Repair Program can pay for many of these repairs. For help with a high bill, folks can work with our customer service team to find a solution. We offer bill discounts through our financial assistance program, and customers who find and fix a leak can request a bill adjustment.

"I really appreciate the Portland Water Bureau. I could not afford to pay for the repairs myself. Thank you so much."

- Program participant

Who qualifies and what we fix

To qualify for the Home Water Leak Repair Program, you must:

• Have an active drinking water account with the City of Portland
• Be enrolled in our financial assistance program
• Own and live in the home with the leak

View full size image of A kitchen sink with a silver faucet. Two hands extend out towards the faucet, one resting on its curved top, the other holding onto the tip.

The program can fix leaks in toilets, faucets, and water pipes, and many other leaks that could cause your water bill to go up! This includes leaks in water service lines, which are the pipes that carry water from your water meter to your home. Service line leaks are notorious for causing huge water bills and leaking a lot of water! 

The Home Water Leak Repair Program can fix:

• Toilets
• Faucets
• Showerheads and tub spouts
• Outdoor spigots
• Leaks in water pipes (like those in your walls or underground)
• Inefficient washing machines

The program cannot make sewer-related repairs.

Growing the program to help more Portlanders

The Home Water Leak Repair Program began as a partnership with Multnomah County in 1998. Since then, it has grown to include new partners and serve more Portlanders. By fixing leaks, the program helps Portlanders save water, save money, and continue living in their homes.

"Having running water is a necessity and I really just don't know how I would have been able to repair my underground leak without the help."

- Program participant

The community organizations we partner with contract with plumbers to fix leaking water pipes and fixtures. Community Energy Project and African American Alliance for Homeownership are two of our long-term partners. And, following a recent competitive grant process, Oregon Rohingya Myanmar Muslim Society will join our other program partners soon!

In 2024, Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) allocated funding to the Home Water Leak Repair Program for the next five years. PCEF recognized that water and carbon emissions are connected. Saving water also reduces the carbon emissions from treating, pumping, and heating water. With this new funding, the program was able to serve 171 Portlanders last year, over twice as many as in previous years!

View full size image of A hole is dug around a small blue pipe that has water spraying out of it. The hole is filled with dirty water and surrounded by lush green grass.

The program makes a lot of repairs—and that saves a lot of water. Last year, the program repaired or replaced 121 toilets and 70 faucets across Portland. The program also repaired or replaced 21 water service lines. Service line leaks are some of the biggest water wasters, so these 21 repairs alone saved an estimated 6.9 million gallons of water!

We're here to help

Home Water Leak Repair Program

Learn more or apply for the Home Water Leak Repair Program.

Contact us at LeakRepair@portlandoregon.gov or 503-823-6060.

Customer service

Learn more or apply for financial assistance.

Request a bill adjustment due to a water leak.

Contact us at PWBCustomerService@portlandoregon.gov or 503-823-7770.