TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – An estimated 40,000 utility customers in Tallahassee received early morning text alerts from the city warning of possible water leaks on their properties.
The message read: “CityofTLH: Your water meter has recorded continuous water use for at least 24 hours…”
WCTV’s newsroom received numerous calls and people took to social media Tuesday morning confused about whether the alert was legitimate. Some residents rushed to call local plumbers, only to find busy phone lines.
The City of Tallahassee issued an official statement acknowledging the issue:
“As a valued City water utility customer, you may have received notification early this morning of continuous water usage. This is a proactive function of the system that alerts customers of a potential leak. New information related to our attempt to help residents and businesses resulted in some customers being inadvertently notified. If the system falsely alerted you of an issue, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
According to Chief Customer Officer James Barnes, the system’s analytics were “more aggressive than normal” during the cold weather and couldn’t distinguish between three scenarios: residents running water to prevent frozen pipes, homes with usage over several days, and actual leaks.
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“It saw some homes that had continuous water usage to keep pipes from freezing,” Barnes explained. “And then it had those that were homes that were used for several days. And then it had those that just sent sort of missed data.”
Barnes emphasized that the vast majority of alerts were false alarms. “99.9% should not be worried,” he said.
Residents who received the text should not be alarmed. The city’s advice is simple: do a casual walk around your home to check for visible signs of a leak. Only call a plumber if you actually see water damage.
“Unless they receive another notice from the city, they should not be concerned,” Barnes said. The city is conducting field verifications and will send follow-up alerts only if continuous water usage is detected.
The city has adjusted the system’s analytics to account for cold weather conditions and multiple days of pipe-freezing precautions. The system has also been corrected to better filter out false positives.
The city is asking residents with questions to call 850-891-4968 or visit their customer self-service portal on the Talgov website to check their water consumption in real-time.
WCTV’s Julia Miller is speaking with local plumbers today about this alert and will have more tonight on Eyewitness News.
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