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?