Detroit water bill charges family for 90,000 gallons in month

Image 1 of 4

Karen Davis gets a glass of water at her home on Detroit's west side - then sits down to show us her water bill.

Her family's usage is always pretty much the same - 6 to 7,000 gallons per month - then the month of May spiked to 29,000 gallons.

"(I was like) wait a minute, no, I know this can't be right," Davis said.

Her family had no leaking toilets, just a tiny plastic pool and a fish tank. Karen and her husband, Robert, couldn't believe they were using that much water.

Then the real shock arrived with the bill for June - for 90,000 gallons.

"There's no way we used 90,000 gallons of water," she said. "It's just impossible. And they're like well - it's accurate, get on a payment plan, which we ended up doing but still - 90,000 gallons? This is a house, not an apartment building."

Just to give you an idea of how much water we're talking about... in a month...

FOX 2 has seen this before. Just this week we told you about contractor Chuck Brooks who was being charged thousands of dollars for water at his two vacant properties. 

The water department insisted he was using tens of thousands of gallons then realized after months of arguing - they had made a programming mistake - which was corrected - along with those bills for Mr. Brooks.

"I just wish people would fight and pray and call FOX 2, it is not just happening to me," Brooks said.

The Davis family saw that story.

"(I said) Oh my God - we need to contact someone about this, because I know this can't be right," Davis said.

FOX 2 thought so too, so we contacted Detroit Water and Sewerage to let them know - this might be another mistake.

"I just want them the just re-adjust the bill," Davis said. "No problems, no drama, just fix the bill - that's all."

Detroit Water and Sewerage tells FOX 2 they are already looking into it have already contacted the Davis family and "will thoroughly investigate."
 

News