Lee Hoffman
A building does not need a burst pipe or a catastrophic plumbing failure to waste serious money on water. Running toilets can quietly waste water every single day through small, often almost invisible faults.
The result is money slowly flowing down the drain without a single complaint from tenants. For property managers and building owners, this lost money can hurt net operating income (NOI), increase budget pressure, and make water costs harder to control.
Have you ever thought about just how many toilets a building needs? We have. Depending on the building type, the laws of New York City mandate the exact number of toilet facilities required, with the average 25k square foot multi-family building requiring between 25-30 private toilets, and this is not including multi-bedrooms and any communal facilities! On average, between 10 and 20% of these toilets will have a leak at any given time.
This is why hidden water waste should be treated as a board-level issue, not just a maintenance task. When running toilets go undetected across dozens or hundreds of units, the financial impact can move from a minor repair problem to a recurring operating expense.
If teams only discover water waste after the bill arrives, they are already reacting too late. Runwise Smart Toilet Monitoring helps buildings catch the warning signs earlier, giving property teams a clearer way to reduce waste before it becomes a larger financial problem. As part of a broader approach to smart building controls, property teams can gain greater visibility into the systems that drive operating costs.
Small toilet leaks can waste water continuously, 24/7. There may not be a clear emergency like a burst pipe, but for multifamily property managers, the financial cost can reach six figures annually.
Even a single running toilet can result in more than $10,000 lost each year. If one toilet can create that kind of financial hit, then buildings with several undetected running toilets can easily snowball into a major operating expense.
Large buildings may also have multiple toilets running at the same time. That is the “death by a thousand leaks” problem: small issues spread across many units, creating a much larger financial drain than any single repair ticket suggests.
For property managers, building owners, asset managers, and co-op or condo boards, higher water bills increase operating expenses, reduce net operating income, and create budget variance that needs to be explained.
Running toilets are difficult to catch because most buildings still rely on delayed or incomplete signals. By the time a water bill shows a spike, the waste may have been happening for weeks.
Tenants may not notice a small leak. Even if they do, they may not report it quickly, especially if the building pays the water bill. That leaves property teams dependent on complaints that may never come.
Monthly or quarterly bills are purely reactive because they do not provide live data. Once they arrive, it is generally too late to recover money already lost to leaks. A running toilet may have been wasting water for weeks before the cost appears in the bill, leaving property managers to explain the spike after the damage is done.
Maintenance teams cannot constantly check every toilet in a building complex. Even regular inspections can miss leaks that start between visits or only run intermittently. In larger multifamily buildings, this makes manual detection too slow and incomplete to control water waste effectively.
This is why many multifamily buildings are adopting automated running toilet detection systems that can identify hidden water waste long before it appears on a utility bill.
Water waste is not only a maintenance issue; it is an operating performance issue. Higher water bills can dramatically increase operating expenses, which can take a direct toll on your income. For property managers and multifamily owners, this creates an unnecessary drag on the building’s bottom line.
For co-op and condo boards, unexplained water costs can affect monthly charges, reserve planning, and board discussions. If costs keep rising without a clear explanation, boards may be forced to answer difficult questions from residents.
Hidden water waste deserves board-level attention because it can reveal a gap in building oversight. When a recurring cost cannot be seen, measured, or explained until the bill arrives, managers and boards are left reacting to a problem that should have been caught earlier.
How is it possible that potential six-figure leaks are not flagged in buildings? The mechanical reasons are often simple: worn flappers, faulty fill valves, stuck handles, or internal tank issues that allow water to keep running without creating an obvious emergency.
A running toilet may not flood an apartment or cause visible damage. Water can simply move through the system all day, quietly increasing the building’s water usage while leaving few signs for tenants or maintenance teams to notice.
In multifamily buildings, the cost is often absorbed by the building rather than the resident. That weakens the incentive to report small faults and makes it easier for water waste to continue until it appears as a much larger operating expense.
A smart toilet monitoring system provides 24/7 insight into water usage. Runwise Smart Toilet Monitoring uses wireless sensors to detect running toilets and alert building teams quickly as soon as a leak is identified.
The product is wireless and non-invasive, with no plumbing or electrical work needed. This makes it easier for multifamily buildings to add real-time water waste detection without turning the installation into a major building project.
The leak detection process:
Earlier alerts give managers and boards better control over recurring water waste. By detecting running toilets sooner, buildings can reduce unnecessary water loss, lower operating costs, and prevent small leaks from becoming larger financial issues.
Runwise Smart Toilet Monitoring has helped property managers find running toilets quickly and turn hidden water waste into measurable savings. The results show how fast small leaks can become visible once buildings have the right monitoring in place.
In one Chelsea multifamily building, Runwise Smart Toilet Monitoring helped the property team find leaks almost immediately after installation.
In a Hell’s Kitchen multifamily building, water usage dropped quickly after Smart Toilet Monitoring was installed.
A $100,000 to your building’s income is not flushed away overnight. It happens quietly and consistently through small leaks that avoid detection.
By the time a water bill reveals the problem, property teams are already reacting to a cost that has been building for weeks or months. That delay makes it harder to control expenses, explain budget variance, and protect building performance.
Running toilets should not stay hidden until they become a financial surprise. Property managers, building owners, asset managers, and co-op or condo boards need earlier warning signs, faster maintenance response, and clearer visibility into the water waste affecting their buildings.
Connect with our team to learn our Smart Toilet Monitoring technology will help you catch the warning signs early, reduce running toilet waste, and protect operating performance before the next water bill arrives - in under 90 seconds.
A single running toilet can cost a building more than $10,000 per year in wasted water. In larger multifamily buildings, several undetected running toilets can quickly turn into a five- or six-figure operating expense.
Running toilets often do not cause visible flooding or urgent damage. Tenants may not notice them, may not report them, or may not feel urgency if the building pays the water bill.
Smart toilet monitoring uses wireless sensors to detect running toilets and alert building teams quickly. This helps maintenance teams investigate and fix the issue before wasted water continues for weeks or months.
