A couple in The Villages was shocked to receive a water-tower-sized bill.
Jim and Nancy Maccari of the Village of Pinellas received a bill from The Villages Utility Department indicating they had used 201,230 gallons of water during the month of May. Their bill totaled $1,201.16.
They wondered where the water went.
“During the entire month, we never observed any water leaks, standing water, or over-watered and wet lawn conditions which we know would be present if that amount of water was placed on our lawn,” Jim Maccari said.
They had used 202,070 gallons over the preceding 12 months. In June, their usage went down to 12,990 gallons.
Jim Maccari went on to have nine conversation with the utility department.
“A flow test was conducted on the irrigation water meter and it showed no problem. I spoke with the Jacobs tech, and while the flow test showed no problem, he could not understand how that much water could be used in one month without some visual evidence being observed,” he said.
The couple paid $163.71 to a landscaping company to perform a complete inspection of their irrigation system.
“The technician located no leak in our system and confirmed our irrigation timer was set to run two days a week for 35 minutes on rotors, 25 minutes on sprayers and landscape drip line. The tech told me that based on the inspection and her many years of experience, there was no way 201,230 gallons of water could be used in one month without it being noticed,” Jim Maccari said.
At Monday’s meeting of the North Sumter County Utility Dependent District, Director Dan Warren called attention to the Maccaris’ situation.
Warren, a Village of Gilchrist resident who was president of the Waukesha, Wis. Water Utility for 24 years, described for his fellow board members how much water the Maccaris had been billed for during the month of May.
“You are talking about 200,000 gallons of water, which is the amount held by a water tower,” Warren said.
It’s because of situations like the one faced by the Maccaris that the NSCUDD board voted to adopt a revision to the Board Approved Unexplained High-Water Use Adjustment Policy.
You can read the policy at this link: Revision to the Board Approved Unexplained High-Water Use Adjustment Policy
Carol Slezak, who lives in a villa in the Village of Virginia Trace has gone round and round with the utility department over a bill for an unexplained 25,860 gallons of water. She claims the utility department threatened to cut off her water if she didn’t pay up.
The revised policy approved Monday by NSCUDD didn’t bring her any comfort.
“It’s water I never used and you haven’t told me how it happened,” she said.
