Atlanta Woman Gets Staggering Water Bill: She’s Not Alone

Atlanta Woman Gets Staggering Water Bill: She’s Not Alone

Hey, folks! Let’s talk about our gal from Atlanta, Gail Mapp, who got a wild surprise in the mail. She inherited a building from her mom, somewhere on that bustling stretch of Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway. The place used to be a ceramics shop, but hasn’t been much other than a roof over some old tiles and dust for over 10 years.

Sky-high Water Bill for an Unused Building

Gail’s been paying this little water bill for this old address, around $13.12, nothing to worry about really. But then, come December 2022, this bill shoots up like a rocket. Just imagine opening your mail to a $16,000 water bill!? That’s right. And guess what? The bill didn’t stop there. It kept climbing and climbing until it got past the $81,000 mark! This being for a building that doesn’t even have its plumbing in working condition. How about that?

The Unseen Ocean of Invisible Water

Now here’s the kicker. The billing indicates that this building, without any water supply, used approximately 700,000 gallons of water in just one month. That’s enough to fill two large swimming pools every day, folks. And yet, neither the city nor the plumbers reported anything remotely resembling a pool party. Even after calling in three different plumbers and having a city technician visit, the diagnosis was the same ─ no leaks!

A Denied Appeal and a Quirky Meter

Poor Gail thought, “Maybe they’ll understand, maybe they’ll clear off the bill.” But the city denied her adjustment request. They said just because there’s no plumbing doesn’t mean there can’t be a leak. I mean, where would that water be hiding? Underground? I don’t think so! To add to the mystery, Gail spotted that her bills were starting to go down again, without any kind of intervention. Aaand hold onto your hats, folks, turns out the meter was busted. They replaced it again, and voila! The bill was back to its humble $13.12.

A Solitary Incident or A Trend

So here’s where it starts to get really interesting. Gail wasn’t the only one getting these crazy bills. Records from that Department of Watershed Management place had a bunch of high water usage alerts just along that one road. We reached out to them to ask if this was a one-off coincidence or maybe a bit fishy, but no response… yet.

The Final Straw: A Court Battle

Untangling this web has taken up a lot of Gail’s life, and she said, “Enough!” Now, she’s getting a lawyer and taking these folks to court. And we can’t wait to hear how this all shakes out. Be careful out there, folks: check your water bills, and don’t let this happen to you!