Tim and Beth Kennedy had a very high water bill last month for a house they rent out in Grand Marais – about $1,800. Thewater meters both inside and outside the house agreed: During the last billing cycle, 120,000 gallons of water had seemingly run out a pipe inside the house and into the city sewer system.
Veteran Public Utilities Commission (PUC) technician Steve DuChien read the meter as he does every month and quickly notified the Kennedys. There was no running toilet, no water on the floor, no erosion from a running faucet outside the house, no sign of water damage.
A leak of 120,000 gallons of water would have been like almost three gallons of water flowing out a faucet every minute of every day for about four weeks. Can a faucet even leak that much? A quarterinch leak in a pipeline can generate a loss of almost 15,000 gallons a day. A half-inch water line turned on all the way could go through 120,000 gallons of water in three to five days, PUC Water/Wastewater Superintendent Tom Nelson said at a June 2, 2010 PUC meeting. According to PUC clerk Jan Smith, a running toilet can go through 10,000-12,000 gallons in a month, and that’s with people jiggling the handle to stop the running when they notice it.
Smith also said a typical household goes through about 1,800 gallons of water per person each month, although that varies to a certain extent.
What does it cost to run water in Grand Marais? $5.25 for every 1,000 gallons of water that flow through the meter and $8.77 for the same amount of water that presumably ends up down the sewer. Separate plumbing and meters can be installed for people who want to water their lawns but not pay for sewer treatment not done on the water that ends up soaking into the grass.
Tenants who have since moved out of the Kennedys’ house had been out of town for a couple of days during the month of high use. “These were exceptional tenants,” Beth Kennedy told the PUC. She was certain they would have called if they had known of any leaking.
The PUC and city staff discussed theories about what could have happened. City Administrator Mike Roth offered two possible explanations. Either the meter was not working properly (although it worked properly after the excess water use was discovered) or water was going down a drain in the house.
Broken meters usually stop or slow down. “They don’t ever speed up,” DuChien said.
A decision was made to send the inside meter in for testing. The meter on the outside simply reflects the reading from the inside meter so that city workers can record water use without having to enter the home. Thestate also has a grievance board to which homeowners could appeal.
“I don’t think we’re ever going to figure out here as a group whether water went through or why it went through,” said Nelson.
So who is responsible for the bill? Even if a utilities account is in a tenant’s name, state statute allows unpaid water and sewer bills to be assessed on the property owner’s tax bill. The Kennedys were not opposed to paying the bill if that much water had truly gone down the drain.
Oh, and the three public utilities commissioners are Hal Greenwood, Bob Spry—and Tim Kennedy.
What is Tim Kennedy’s theory on what caused all that water use in his rental house?
“Aliens.”
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