Brickbat: Dragged Through the Mud

Atlanta, Georgia resident Elisabeth Porter received a water bill for $20,545.27, even though she'd been telling the city's Department of Watershed Management (DWM) about a leak outside her home for months. The city did not respond to her complaints until a local TV station got involved. At that point, the DWM found and repaired a leak in the meter box and said it would review her bill for adjustments. But muddy water has since resumed flowing from the lines, which the DWM said it would return to fix.

Comments

[Don't look at me! (No longer muted!)]

These are the types of people we need in charge of our health care.

[Vernon Depner]

If the leak is on her side of the meter, then fixing it is her responsibility, not the city's. That's the way it is everywhere.

[SQRLSY]

"...the DWM found and repaired a leak in the meter box..."

In the box itself! Go mess with (make modifications to) "your" meter box and find out who shit belongs to! Duh, maybe even double-duh!

[Incunabulum]

The city will freak TF out if you touch the meter.

[Vernon Depner]

They won't "freak TF out" if you repair the connection to your side of the meter and any pipes past that. The output side of the meter is the boundary between what belongs to the property owner and what belongs to the the city or water company.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...until a local TV station got involved.

Honestly, at this point, I'm surprised they even respond to local news shaming.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Got to nip it in the bud before it hits, TikTok. Who says government isn't proactive.

[John F. Carr]

My water meter is inside. If there is a leak outside on my side of the curb shutoff valve the town can tell me to fix it. The town has no way to bill for an outdoor leak.

[mad.casual]

The town has no way to bill for an outdoor leak.

If you think your town has no way to add extra digits to your bill you'd be mistaken.

[Vernon Depner]

The town has no way to bill for an outdoor leak.

Which is one reason they would insist you fix it. They can't bill anyone for water that doesn't go through a meter.

[TJJ2000]

Hmmm... I wonder how her "fraudulent charges" case will hold-up in the city's Department of Watershed Management's ?halls of justice?

Lobbying to turn all the "halls of justice" (i.e. government) into suppliers is the very means that kills Individual Justice for everyone.