Anyone familiar with water meters ? UPDATE

When my main stated to leak underground, eventually the ground water sump pump started to run and it hadn't rained
I knew I had a leaking main
The first bucket of dirt the backhoe dug which guessing would be 18'' down, the ground was saturated with water. By the time they dug down a few feet, the pumps were needed and mind you this was with a leak not a complete failure and only after a few days