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Elizabeth Cutright Water Efficiency Editor

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WE Editor's Blog

October 6th, 2008 1:37pm PST

News You May Have Missed

Posted By Elizabeth Cutright 3 Comments

If you didn’t get a chance to read about the almost-$10,000 water bill issued to an Ogden, Utah man, it’s well worth taking a look. (For the full story, go here.)

In August, Rick Baur was billed $9,700 for the alleged use of 1.4 million gallons of water. Baur does not run a car wash or own a large farm, nor does he live on a large piece of landscaped property (by his own calculations, he irrigates less than a third of his 2-acre property). Adding to the mystery, from December to January he and his wife were on vacation, and so virtually no water was used during that time.

Unfortunately for Baur, Ogden’s water utility manager Craig Frisbee stands by the bill, stating, “When water goes through a meter, they [customers] are obligated to pay for that.” And what was going on with that meter? Well, according to George Benford, the city’s public services director, the meter was spinning at 72% capacity during the disputed billing period – a level of water usage that Benford acknowledges is not often seen at a residence and is “the level you would use when you get to a manufacturing facility.”

The city is adamant that the Baurs must pay the entire amount of the bill, although there is some possibility that the final charge will be reduced based on a hardship credit. Obviously to the uninitiated, this seems like another trip down the rabbit hole – in what strange universe could one household use 1.4 million gallons of water? Is this a case of extreme water theft? And what responsibility does the city have to investigate the cause behind this eye-popping meter reading? 

What Do You Think?

Post a Comment

j_haessly

October 7th, 2008 11:38 AM PT

As I read this article, I thought about the few ways this could possibly have happened. Is there a leak, was there theft involved, is the meter malfunctioning, is it a combination of these three things? The homeowner says he was on vacation during the time of the high water use, but what is still troublesome is the fact that his bill was nearly $2000 the next month when he was home and when he should have been monitoring his use very closely. What is going on here? I certainly hope that this man has access to a good water auditor who can help him.

Paitch13

October 7th, 2008 2:53 PM PT

Interesting. The subsequent bill for August is also extremely high for what the customer's claim is their normal usage habits. I think the city has an obligation to investigate because if this amount of water is running through the meter, then there is apparently a tremendous amount of waste occurring and they should want to prevent that. I find it hard to believe there is no manifestation of a leak of this size. Though I am not familiar with the geography there, where is it all going? Are there caverns underground that can accomodate this amount of water? Is the ground there able to absorb this water and not show some signs of potential problems arising from this drenching? And, if it is not actually running through the meter, then the city has some apologizing and paying back to do. This screams for an investigation for the benefit of all involved.

Al

October 8th, 2008 3:33 PM PT

Sounds like a big fish story to me!

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