diff --git a/test/integration/volume/persistent_volumes_test.go b/test/integration/volume/persistent_volumes_test.go
index eed2c652628..d3a9e6c3463 100644
--- a/test/integration/volume/persistent_volumes_test.go
+++ b/test/integration/volume/persistent_volumes_test.go
@@ -1468,19 +1468,30 @@ func waitForAnyPersistentVolumePhase(w watch.Interface, phase v1.PersistentVolum
 }
 
 func waitForSomePersistentVolumeClaimPhase(ctx context.Context, testClient clientset.Interface, namespace string, objCount int, watchPVC watch.Interface, phase v1.PersistentVolumeClaimPhase) error {
+	// The caller doesn't know about new watches, so we have to stop them ourselves.
+	var newWatchPVC watch.Interface
+	defer func() {
+		if newWatchPVC != nil {
+			newWatchPVC.Stop()
+		}
+	}()
+
 	return wait.ExponentialBackoffWithContext(ctx, retry.DefaultBackoff, func(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {
 		for i := 0; i < objCount; i++ {
-			waitErr := waitForAnyPersistentVolumeClaimPhase(watchPVC, v1.ClaimBound)
-			if waitErr != nil {
-				klog.Errorf("Failed to wait for a claim (%d/%d) to be bound: %v", i+1, objCount, waitErr)
+			err := waitForAnyPersistentVolumeClaimPhase(watchPVC, v1.ClaimBound)
+			if err != nil {
+				klog.Errorf("Failed to wait for a claim (%d/%d) to be bound: %v", i+1, objCount, err)
 				klog.Info("Recreating a watch for claims and re-checking the count of bound claims")
-				newWatchPVC, err := testClient.CoreV1().PersistentVolumeClaims(namespace).Watch(ctx, metav1.ListOptions{})
+				newWatchPVC, err = testClient.CoreV1().PersistentVolumeClaims(namespace).Watch(ctx, metav1.ListOptions{})
 				if err != nil {
 					return false, err
 				}
 				watchPVC.Stop()
 				watchPVC = newWatchPVC
-				return false, waitErr
+				// The error from waitForAnyPersistentVolumeClaimPhase is assumed to be harmless
+				// and/or to be fixed by recreating the watch, so here we continue polling
+				// via ExponentialBackoffWithContext.
+				return false, nil
 			}
 			klog.V(1).Infof("%d claims bound", i+1)
 		}