Tuesday, October 23, 2018

(News 12 at 6 O’Clock / NBC 26 at 7)

COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Water bills have been looking a little suspicious in Columbia County recently, so our I-Team is digging deeper.

It's one of those bills we don't really question.

"I just pay the bill every month," Columbia County resident Ashley Ford laughed.

From drinking to washing dishes, clothes and ourselves, whatever the cost is we pay it. But Ashley Ford and Sara Barry are feeling the pain of their water bills recently.

Meredith Anderson: "Do you feel like you've been paying for water that you haven't used?"

Ashley Ford: "Absolutely."

Sara Barry: "I don't understand how my neighbor across the street has a $60 bill, and I've got $120.”

They aren't alone. Another family's bill says their usage went from 11,000 gallons to 46,000 gallons. They say nothing's changed, and they say they have no leaks.

Another family we spoke to showed us a bill with a 40% increase from last year. The family says it's impossible to have an $80 bill, because no one was living there. They had moved to Massachusetts by then.

Meanwhile, a third family had just moved in. Their first month shows a usage of 48,000 gallons! That was more than $200. The next month dropped to 22,000 gallons, but at around $100 – that's still pretty high considering her family's water bill averaged around $50 in her last house just two miles away, also in Columbia County.

But that wasn’t as high as a bill Sara Barry had a few years ago.

Sara Barry: "Over $600. Yes m'am."

Meredith Anderson: "And what did you say?"

Sara Barry: "A lot of colorful language came out of my mouth. Not gonna lie."

The County says that's because a couple of bills had piled up, and they only made partial payments.

Sara Berry: "We were trying to get it worked out, and in the process, they cut off our water."

20 minutes away, on a different street in a different neighborhood, Ashley Ford also reported water usage problems.

Ashley Ford: "When I was normally paying, like 30, between $35 and $40, my bill got up to about $90."

She says she had no idea why the bill was changing.

Ashley Ford: "That's always been my lowest, cheapest bill, and then it started getting up higher, closer to $100. And I was like, ok, something's wrong."

So our I-Team asked the County what could be wrong. News 12’s Meredith Anderson received an email from Columbia County referencing a spike of 70 million gallons between June and July of 2018. In it, the county implied sprinklers could play a big role. Ford says that's definitely not her problem, since her sprinklers are on a well.

The county also pointed out leaky sinks can waste a lot of water.

Sara Berry: "They blamed it on our toilets, so we went and replaced all three toilets in the house. We replaced the faucet in the kitchen. We replaced the dishwasher in the kitchen. We had our sprinkler system looked at."

The bill dropped after that, but the Barrys say the price didn’t drop near enough.

Sara Berry: "We've done our due diligence."

Our I-Team did our due diligence too, filing an Open Records request with the county just for water complaints this year.

We received information on multiple homes. One home in the records saw a jump from 6,000 gallons to 45,000 gallons from April to September of this year. The homeowner complained and the county checked. There was no leak.

At another home, the county’s workers checked two days in a row. On the second day, the meter showed some usage, even though the "house is vacant."

Ashley Ford: "What can you do? You can't cut your water off, and say I'll go to another company. "

She eventually called a plumber, who she says he didn't find any leaks.

The County also came out and the meter was checked nothing is leaking. According to a note left on her door, her meter is 100% accurate. Her bill started to drop mid-month.

Ashley Ford: "Either they fixed the meter and didn't want to actually tell me something was wrong with it. I'm not sure. I don't know.

She just got her bill reflecting a full month of water use after the county inspected her meter. She tells us it's working properly. She says it's suddenly back to normal at $37.28.

Again, Ford’s sprinklers are on a well and the county found no leaks. The only thing she says changed was the county came out to check her meter.​