Retired music teacher Eleanor Connors said she normally has a water bill of less than $100, so when she opened her bill on Feb. 21 and saw it was for more than $1,000, she “nearly passed out.”
“I thought 'Oh my God,” she said. “I thought the (utilities) made a mistake.”
It's the latest blow to Connors, who is looking at the possibility of increased insurance rates and spring flooding damage stemming from an act of mischief in late November or early December.
Eleanor Connors, a retired teacher, was shocked by a water bill in excess of $1,000 for her home. The excessive bill was caused after someone turned on an outdoor tap and left it running. Photo by Marg Seregelyi
Someone allegedly entered Connors' yard and went under her deck and turned the tap on “full-blast.” “I (can't see) under my deck from the back of my house,” she said. “I sure don't go sit on it in the winter time. I've got fireplaces that make noise, and I couldn't hear anything.”
It wasn't until her son-in-law came over to borrow something from a back shed in early December that he saw the “lake” under her deck and turned off the water.
Connors explained her home has an inside shut-off valve for the front outdoor tap, but not the back.
Footprints were seen in the frozen snow alongside the edge of the icy pool, as well as through her yard. Connors contacted police, she said, but since those tracks had since been covered by snow, they couldn't investigate. “They put it on the record in case it happens again.”
Connors contacted her councillor, Ward 1's Joe Cimino, by e-mail and an employee of the city's accounts receivable department contacted her quickly, she said.
Bylaws dictate what a customer can receive in the way of rebates on their water bills. Even though Connors' didn't willingly pour roughly $900 of water into her backyard, the most the city can do is cut that excess in half. “Only once in a lifetime they'll do it,” she said. “They took off $442, which still leaves my (utility) bill over $1,000. I normally pay $300 something (for hydro and water).”
In addition to the cost of the water, Connors is looking at structural damage to her home and deck once spring comes and the ice begins to thaw. She said she had to contact her insurance company, which can't help her with the water bill, in anticipation of damage to the deck and foundation.
A plumber comes in next week to install a shut-off valve for the back outdoor tap, but until that's done, Connors said she's worried someone will come in and turn on the water again.
“I'm very disturbed about it,” she said. “It's a prank somebody played. I'm a nervous wreck leaving my house because things like this are happening.”
