SPRING HILL, Fla. (WFLA) – Hernando County sent Dianne Welter a water bill for $967.09 – for one month’s worth of water- and no feasible explanation for how she and her roommate could have possibly used 22,800 gallons of water.
“I thought, ‘Well, shoot, that’s a mistake. They must have put in a decimal point,'” Welter said.
Welter said Hernando County sent out workers who checked the meter and confirmed no leaks and she took Better Call Behnken through her house to show no leaky faucets and an energy efficient toilet.
Even though the county found no problems and the next month’s bill was just $35, Welter says Hernando is sticking her with the big bill anyway. She can’t fathom a way she wouldn’t have noticed this much water.
“We would have heard water running. You can hear when your toilet is running,” she said. “You can hear if the hose is left on. You can hear that water going through your system.”
To put that in perspective, her typical water bill is around $13, for between 3,000 and 4,000 gallons of water. The 22,800 gallons is enough water to fill up a 10,000 gallon swimming pool more than twice.
“I couldn’t sleep because of this amount of money,” Welter said. “I did borrow money in case I have to pay it, but they’re threatening to turn off the water.”
A Hernando County spokeswoman called Investigator Shannon Behnken back and agreed that 22,800 gallons of water is a lot with no explanation. She says the head of the water department and customer service will be meeting with Welter on Monday to try to get to the bottom of this.
