NIPAWIN 鈥� Vince Hilbert said he went into cardiac arrest when he opened his water bill to see that he owed about $508 for his two-person trailer without a washing machine.
鈥淟ast summer I watered the lawn at full price just about every second day and it never went over $81 and some cents,鈥� Hilbert said.
In response, he phoned the town, who informed Hilbert it was likely there was a leak.
In a typical situation the town would simply send the resident the bill, but since Hilbert phoned they had decided to investigate it.
After an inspection of the property, Jamie Fast, Nipawin鈥檚 director of public works, utilities and engineering, said they found the culprit to be a problem with a single 3/8 inch litre valve.
Their estimations put the water loss at 4,082.4 gallons per day.
Since the town is only responsible to cover leaks up to the curb, the responsibility to pay for the bill fell on Hilbert 鈥� as it would for any property owner, Fast said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e only liable up to the curb stop and then anything beyond that [is the property owner鈥檚 responsibility] 鈥� except the metres,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut we were told by the company we get our metres from that they鈥檙e pretty impossible to over-read.鈥�
Fast said the norm is about two cases like this a month for the town.
Typically, these come from water bleeders, water softeners, outside taps or leaky toilets.
鈥淪ome homes aren鈥檛 insulated very well or they鈥檙e operating older toilets and stuff, and when it gets -30掳C below things tend to freeze up,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t all depends on the weather, and then in the summer people don鈥檛 realize how much water they鈥檙e [using] to actually water their gardens.鈥�
What Hilbert had was classified as a bleeder.
According to Fast, while going higher on a metre is 鈥減retty impossible,鈥� being charged under the amount being used is another story.
鈥淭he older the metre, the less water it will record. So it actually benefits you to have an older metre.鈥�
If a resident gets an unusually high water bill, Fast said the first step should be to find out if anything is leaking, such as a toilet, bleeder valve, leaky tap or water softener.
鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing how much can go through with even a drip if it drips every day for the year, you鈥檒l be amazed how much water you鈥檒l actually lose.鈥�
To check for a leak, Fast said that when all the water is off, the metre shouldn鈥檛 be reading anything.
鈥淚f it is reading, I would investigate.鈥�
