For months now, an Atlanta woman has been fighting an escalating monthly water bill that has now topped $9,000.
Blayne Beacham, who lives in a three-bedroom cottage in Ridgewood Heights off Moore's Mill Road, said the problem started last July when she got a $497 water bill from the city Department of Watershed Management. Her monthly water bill had regularly been less than $100.
"I assumed I had a leak, so I got a handyman to come out and check everything," said Beacham, who lives alone. She sent in a $100 payment and appealed the bill. "They turned down my appeal."
The agency did, however, check Beacham's meter and told her nothing was wrong with it, watershed officials confirmed to AJC.
By Dec. 16, Beacham's bill had shot up to $758.
"We called the water department and worked out an agreement where I would pay them $120 a month until I could get a court date" to again appeal, she said.
A few days later, Watershed Management checked the meter again and found nothing wrong, Beacham said.
After getting an April bill for $1,155, plus $1,430 in late charges, Beacham hired a certified plumber who confirmed again there were no leaks, she said. On April 30, Beacham went with a lawyer to a hearing with watershed officials, where she appealed the bill.
A monitor to check usage would be installed on her meter, Beacham was told. "They also told me that I needed to get an additional ‘leak detection specialist' to come to my house and make sure there was no leak."
Beacham's May bill was $175, which was still fairly high. She asked water officials if they had perhaps figured out why the bill had come down.
Beacham said a water official told her that they had decided that she had had a leak in the past and had gotten it fixed.
"This is absolutely absurd. I have no way of proving I did not get a leak fixed, because I did not have a leak. I expressed my frustration and asked if I could please just get a new meter." She was told no, Beacham said.
"Last night I opened my mailbox and got a bill for $9,224.40 -- $2,638.68 worth of past charges, and $6,705.72 worth of new charges, Beacham said.
"The thing that is so frustrating is that if I had a leak, and if I had gotten it fixed, how would my bill be this high? " she asked.
Watershed Management is trying to determine what the problem is, spokeswoman Janet Ward said. She said the agency again checked Beacham's meter June 15 and found no malfunctions.
The monitor that was promised months ago, according to Beacham, was installed June 15.
Ward said, "We did install a data logger, which measures hour-by-hour usage that can help us determine if there are any times of the day when usage seems out of kilter." The agency has to wait for 30 days to pull the data from the monitor, she said, "so that means we can’t know anything until the middle of July."
Beacham said, "It's been going for a year and I'm just ready to get the issue resolved."
At her appeals hearing, she said, Watershed Management officials told her any relief would apply to the most recent two months.
"The longer they put off finding a resolution, the more likely I'll be saddled with a $9,000 bill," Beacham said. "If they admit I don't have a leak, why won't they just replace the meter?"
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