Do I have a major problem brewing underground???

[Neo]

My father in law noticed something that has me freaked out. There is a large drop in the sidewalk in front of my house (about 3 inches). The yard in the area is also depressed and there is a city water meter plate in the ground in the area too. My FIL thinks there may be a leak causing the ground to weaken. I have only lived here since August so I can't say how long it's been like this, but the inspector didn't mention it in his report when I bought the house. But now I'm picturing a large sinkhole opening up in my yard!

Anyone have experience with something like this? Who should I call to have this investigated? I called public works to fix the sidewalk but I'm worried this won't address the larger issue. I tried to post pictures earlier but the site was acting weird and I wasn't able to get the pictures to post.

[Neo]

Apologies if you viewed this thread earlier and only saw the first sentence of my post above. The site was acting weird and not letting my posts go through. Not sure why it went through with only the one sentence.

[Neo]

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[waltworks]

I think you very well might have a water leak there, but the odds are it's on the city side of the meter (or the meter itself which is also generally the city's job to maintain). Have your water bills been totally nuts?

I would say a call to public works is in order. They will at least want to fix the sidewalk which is an obvious trip hazard/ADA problem.

Bottom line, no need to panic. It's almost certainly not going to be your responsibility to fix assuming there's a problem.

-W

[Neo]

Water bill I just paid was $280 for 3 months. That seems a little high to me but we have 5 people in our house including a baby that generates a lot of laundry.

I did call public works to fix the drop in the sidewalk for safety reasons.

[waltworks]

I'd walk over to the neighbors and see what their typical water bill is. If it's, say, plus or minus 20%, you're good. If it's half... might be time to look at the main from the meter (or the meter itself).

-W

Water bill I just paid was $280 for 3 months. That seems a little high to me but we have 5 people in our house including a baby that generates a lot of laundry.

I did call public works to fix the drop in the sidewalk for safety reasons.

[Neo]

Good idea. Texted my neighbor and his water bill was $300. Must be on the city's side. Thanks!