How to Eliminate Multifamily Water Leaks

Got Leaks? Get Smart and Stop Them.

Have you ever had a leaky faucet? An overflowing toilet? Or worse, a constant mysterious dripping of dirty water from the ceiling? If you’ve experienced one or even all of these leaks, you’re not alone. The average American family can waste 9,400 gallons of water annually from household leaks. Nationwide, household leaks can waste almost 900 billion gallons of water!

The bad news is most water incidents result in multi-unit damage when not immediately noticed. The good news is that there is powerful leak detection technology in the market. However, this good news does come with some caveats -- many of these services send the leak notice to the property manager instead of the maintenance team, and leak sensors are often only in resident units, leaving common areas exposed.

Water leaks are not solely a property damage issue. They also have an economic effect, whether the resident or property (or both) bear(s) the burden. For example, if a resident raises the concern of a leak driving up that month’s water consumption along with their increased charge, a property manager can eliminate that charge, but the property has already paid for it.

Stopping multifamily water leaks before they happen

RealPage, a global leader in providing software and data analytics to the real estate industry has launched STRATIS Smart Building, the smart way to power multifamily living from access control, sustainability, community-wide Wi-Fi, and more. Smart Water™ offers a wide range of solutions for water management and control, including automatic shutoff valves, acoustic monitoring, real-time submetering technology, and humidity and leak sensor technologies.

This property and portfolio-wide solution significantly reduces risk and loss from leaks and running water, provides cost savings, and eliminates unbillable water usage by residents. With 90% of incidents involving water damage in multifamily and student housing impact multiple units, the savings from real-time alerts are crucial to stopping hidden and prolonged loss. Getting proactive with water leaks and stopping them before they happen was nearly impossible until Smart Water.

Property management companies (PMC) commit to reduce water by a certain percentage in line withEnvironmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) or Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB). So that means if 30% of all water consumed on the property is lost to leaks, these PMCs can hit the goals easily by installing leak detection and elimination.

And in the case that there is a leak, smart leak sensors can detect the smallest change in water levels or humidity and will automatically send a work order to the maintenance team.

The first solution of its kind, this economical property-wide and portfolio-wide solution targeted to multifamily and student housing specifically addresses water management for both common areas and residential units. This real-time analysis, leak detection, and alerts to site staff and residents are invaluable for property, environmental, and economical health.

Want to learn more about the Smart Water Solution? Read more here about how to reduce risk and loss.