Missing: $5,500 Worth of Water

It had to go somewhere

By JONATHAN LLOYD

Updated 3:13 PM PST, Fri, Nov 6, 2009

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The meter didn't lie, according to Glendale Water and Power.

And it certainly didn't evaporate into thin air... wait, it could have, but unlikely.

So how did a Glendale man's home water meter register a 1.5-million gallon reading for his June bill? That added up to a $5,500 bill for the two-month period.

How much water is 1.5 million gallons? It's more than the monthly usage for 3,000-student Glendale High School.

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Glendale Water and Power officials confirmed the reading was accurate.

Escott Norton disagreed. He told the City Council he didn't use the water and fought the bill.

Norton now owes just $350. He will be credited for about $2,800 in payments.

Officials said there's no evidence the water was stolen. They said is didn't go into storm drains or leak into the ground.

Utility General Manager Glenn Steiger said he just doesn't know where the water went.

First Published: Nov 6, 2009 7:54 AM PST

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0 Comments

{"totSize":4,"payload_type":"json","status":"1","results":[{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"390259_69374792","adminTags":null,"views":834,"createdBy":14129623,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Missing: $5,500 Worth of Water","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2664526,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"6 Nov 2009 18:54:32 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":4,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"Teufelwolf","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1198850","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"That is where off brand bottled water comes from."},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"390259_69374792","adminTags":null,"views":834,"createdBy":7918844,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Missing: $5,500 Worth of Water","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2664526,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"6 Nov 2009 19:32:04 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":4,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"anonymous_user","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1199270","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"once upon a time, my mother went through this with the DWP. She inquired about a $1.500.00 water bill (back in the 70's this was HUGE), the DWP worker was very nice and asked her if maybe she had refilled her pool. My mother went hystericallaughing, no pool, just 3 small inner city units with a horrendous under ground leak in a pipe. Probably what is going on here."},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"390259_69374792","adminTags":null,"views":834,"createdBy":9257197,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Missing: $5,500 Worth of Water","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2664526,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"6 Nov 2009 22:16:30 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":4,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"ginny","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1201120","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"I received an outrageous bill from the DWP in October, that covered August. Only problem was no one was at my home for the entire month. There was literally no water used. Not even lawn watered or toilets flushed. Explain that. DWP is still checking into it but until they reach a decision they wanted me to pay the bill. Needless to say, that 'ain't happening'. I now read my meter on a daily basis and will be closely watching what my next will looks like. Outrageous and I am furious."},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"390259_69374792","adminTags":null,"views":834,"createdBy":10079111,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Missing: $5,500 Worth of Water","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2664526,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"8 Nov 2009 02:49:41 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":4,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"the_doctor","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1206552","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"The best protection is to learn how to read your meter. With the new watering regulations I have read my meter weekly to assure that my lawn stays alive and I stay under the limits.<br />The DWP just goes by what the meter says, and meters do go bad. Mine stopped for about a month and they gave me a prorated bill at my previous highest rate for 12 months, then increased the last 6 months to that high rate claiming that the meter "slowly went bad". it took 2 letters and alot of phone calls to get that changed to an action to put a new meter in and pay whatever that month was for the previous month. <br />But realistically, there are people in the DWP that arent brain dead, that can take your 3/4" service and tell you exactly how many gallons you could have used in one month if it was full open. and its not a million gallons, the pipe isnt big enough for that."}],"error":"","totPages":1}