Utility Claims 99-Year-Old Used 139,876 Gallons Of Water In 1 Month
Meet 99-year-old Jeanette Cohen, a Washington resident who either lives in her shower or is the recipient of the more bizarre bills spat out by the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority. Cohen normally pays $30 to use about 3,000 gallons per month, but the utility insists that she used 139,876 gallons of water last month and now owes almost $1,200.
"It's just so obvious that, as the plumber said, 'You couldn't use that much water,'" she told News4's Tom Sherwood.
Ellen Cohen is worried about the stress this could cause her mother in law. Jeannette Cohen has lived in the same, modest house in the Tenley Circle area since 1955, and in December she turns 100.
"She would never dodge something that she owed, but she's also very fair and she has a real belief in justice," Ellen Cohen said.
Jeannette Cohen has a hearing scheduled for June 30.
"Well, I have hopes," she said. "I would love to have it fixed just because it is so stupid and so wrong."
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Comments:
Granny is selling water on the black market, check craigs list.
It would be nice if we had more details... for instance, if there is a break in the main between the meter and the house, you are responsible for the water used during the break.
Or, if the meter had been estimated for years, this is the catch-up bill. Most utilities work out payment arrangements in such circumstances.
Lastly, it could be a simple error by a meter reader, data clerk, or computer.
Is there a chance of a line break or other underground leak? That usage works out to a continuous 3.25 gallons per minute-certainly possible if there's a decent break somewhere. More likely than not a meter was just misread, but the line break possibility should be investigated. if it is the case and goes unchecked, the house's foundation could shift and cause serious damage to the building.
Someting is clearly and obviously amiss. Assuming a 30 day month, Mrs. Cohen would have to use 3.2379 gallons per minute, every minute of every hour for 30 consecutive days. (60 minutes x 24 hours per day x 30 days).
Either the meter reader can't read, the meter is broken, DC-WASU's records are wrong, or there is a leak.
What is the flow-rate into the house? Is a flow-rate of 3.2379 gal/min (194.2722 gal/hr) even possible?
Wait, you guys don't use 3+ gallons of water every minute of every day?
THAT LADY IS THIRSTY
In all seriousness, how does someone at the Water authority review that statement and stand behind that?
Is she running an underground waterpark?
Maybe a blackmarket aquarium? Hoarding for the coming apocolypse?
Nice to know that the DC DMV isn't the only corrupt department in Washington.
One thing that companies/governments need is software that notices things that people would notice. Such as when a customer's bill comes to >10x the normal variation in usage, it can be flagged for someone to look at, just out of curiosity or to check that nothing's wrong.
Man, everything really is more expensive in DC
Hydroponics. "It helps my glaucoma!"
People! People! She JUST had to take her pills!
Given the incompetence of the DC government, this is really not a shock.
@darkrose: @Do not taunt Happy Fun King Psyz: I think incompetence is more likely the cause rather than corruption.
I would be shocked, SHOCKED I say, if there were any corruption in D.C.
...if you were leaking 3.25 gallons per minute, in a couple hours your house would either drop into a sinkhole or lift and float away.
There is not the slightest chance that there's a leak of such magnitude anywhere near or in her house - the results would have been catastrophic.
It is enough water to fill two and a half 30'x50' swimming pools 5 feet deep. I think her neighbors might notice that big of a leak.
That bill is so stupid and so wrong.
@snobum: You apparently have never eaten some of the Mexican food in DC. :-) That food will clean you out...
@HiPwr: DC government is almost 100% Democrat... I know you're joking and all, but there are barely any Republicans running the city.
I think that this being the time of year that people fill swimming pools is the problem. LOTS of people are using many times as much water as they usually do right now.
@henwy: At least with my water company, it only runs on estimates during the winter. They also say once they do get a proper reading in the Spring, they will reimburse you for anything extra they estimated that you did not actually use, although I think that last part is bullshit.
@enthreeoh: I figure if I ran a company I would want to know about this sort of thing, whether I cared or not. It would be nice to prepare for the legal backlash or the media investigations, whatever comes first.
If the company can prove that the water entered her house, regardless of whether or not she actually used that water for anything, she is responsible to pay the bill in full.
@Do not taunt Happy Fun King Psyz: Well, sir or madam, these people are working for the government for a reason
That saucy minx! Obviously running wet T-shirt contests by the score.
@failurate: Her neighbors were just excited the Olympic swim team was training in her backyard ... all that eye candy!
I don't feel like wasting my time explaining to you how estimated readings work, but rest assured that you're not paying for any more water or electricity than you actually use. When they do an actual reading they know exactly how much you've used since the last actual reading.
Yeah, when I think of water hogs, I think of the little ol' lady in the photo above. She spends years using 3,000 gallons of month so that she can get away with using 140,000 gallons in one month and screw the public water company over.
Some people not from DC and maybe the west coast would probably believe it (that it's GOP).
I don't think bad water bills necessarily correlate with politics. But, DC for being our nation's capital, is one of the worst places to live and send your kids to public school. Just look at the voting patterns of the citizens.
@sirwired: The article said that she had plumber check it out, twice. I have to assume they checked the meter.
Did anyone notice the hose running from her home to the Reflecting Pool? Or maybe she's taking in laundry.
If she actually used that much water, she'd be dead by now from heavy metal poisoning. You'd have to pay me to consume D.C.'s tap water.
This must be a computer error of some sort. We had a water main break here a couple months ago that turned River Road into an actual river (necessitating helicopter rescues of drivers) and another last summer that had us all boiling our water for a week, so the piping infrastructure is not in good shape, but a leak that large would be noticeable and affect more than just her. I have no idea how one person without a swimming pool uses 140,000 gallons of water.
As someone who learned first hand this effect after my Ex first moved in, they should check her toilet paper supply. I went from using one roll a month to like 2.5 a month. See if her closet is empty of TP. if it is, she used the water.
it may not be an error, like someone mentioned before a leak could easily use that much water.
also, a faucet, hose, or shower left partially open could run at 3.25gpm easily. if the water authority confirmed that the reading is correct my money would be that they are right.
if there is a break in the water line after the meter the city will probably remove the sewage part of the bill which would cut the amount drastically.
it's pretty easy to confirm a leak and confirm that a reading is right, so unless more facts surface my money is on the city
@YouDidWhatNow?:
i've seen a 1.5" water line lose over a million gallons of water with no sinkhole or noticeable damage. it can happen and 3.25gpm is easily possible from a water main.
@Coles_Law: if that was the case her meter wouldnt be recording how much water was leaking out before it got to her house. Plus she wouldnt have normal water pressure, if any.
My money is on you having not read the article since two plumbers checked out her house and stated that no one could have used that much water.
This is remarkably similar to a water bill I received last summer. The plumber was stumped. The water department couldn't have cared less. All I could do was pay the bill and try to sort it out later. So much for that. The next month's bill was the normal rate, like nothing had ever happened.
@enthreeoh: well, something like this could also tell if you're suddenly losing money from someplace unexpected. It's just in their best interest to have mechanisms to detect things that are unusual, that humans would see, but are lost when you simply transfer the billing/auditing functions in an unsophisticated way to computer.
@kepler11: @kepler11: just like, for example, how Los Angeles county/city government recently discovered it had been paying for unused/defunct phone landlines for years before someone noticed. If you create a simple program to act like a human and notice odd things, you can save yourself from these absurd things that happen because of non-intelligent computerized billing/accounting.
@YouDidWhatNow?: It's not that much, actually-your bathtub can easily output that much. The damage would take months, but it would be catastrophic.
@Aladdyn: My water meter is by the curb at the easement, so it's possible. I'll grant you the water pressure, though. The damage would have to be very specific to allow any water at all into the house. I just threw out a possibility.
So this isn't a case of it usually running on estimates and someone finally checking the meter for the first time in a couple of years?