What a leak adjustment is
A leak adjustment (sometimes called a leak credit or leak forgiveness) is a one-time, partial reduction of a water and/or sewer bill that spiked because of a concealed leak the customer couldn't reasonably have known about. It recognizes that water lost to a hidden underground or in-wall leak never benefited the customer.
Adjustments are a municipal courtesy, not a right — each city sets its own eligibility, caps and frequency (often once in a multi-year period), so the specifics differ across British Columbia.
What they typically require
Most programs ask for three things: evidence the leak was concealed and unexpected, proof it has been repaired, and documentation of the consumption. A professional leak-detection report supplies the first two — it establishes where the leak was and that it was located and corrected — while the meter data and a plumber's invoice cover the rest.
Because documentation is the common thread, the strongest applications are backed by a professional assessment that pinpointed the leak rather than a guess or a self-found drip.
How to approach it after a notice
If your city sends a high-consumption or leak notice, the path is consistent: arrange a professional assessment to locate the leak non-invasively, have it repaired, keep the detection report and repair records, then ask your municipality about its leak-adjustment policy and apply with that documentation.
Browse our city-by-city water-leak-notice pages for the local picture, and remember the goal is to stop the loss first — the adjustment offsets part of one bill, but the ongoing waste is the bigger cost.