PECULIAR, Mo. -- A Peculiar, Mo., woman says she doesn’t understand how her water usage skyrocketed, sticking her with a $900 bill.
Liana Crane said she is at her wit’s end. Her $940 water bill was due on Thursday, and she told KMBC's Peggy Breit that she didn’t have the funds to cover it.
“My normal usage is around 6000 gallons a month,†Crane said. “This month they’re telling me I used 60,300 gallons.â€
60,300 gallons of water would mean about 80 gallons of water was used every hour, every day for the entire month.
Crane said when she got the bill she had everything checked and had a plumber look for leaks. She couldn’t find anything wrong.
The city of Peculiar said it checked all of its equipment and everything around Crane’s house and can find nothing that it would be responsible for. So the city said Crane has to pay.
“Somehow that water ran through the meter and we as the city, all the residents, have to pay that bill,†said Peculiar city administrator Brad Ratliff.
The city said a worker found Liana’s hose running, but Crane said there was no evidence of that in her yard.
Crane said she already got water saving toilets and a new meter. Now she hopes she doesn’t see another huge bill.
“This isn’t just putting stress on me, it's putting stress on my family too. And that’s what’s hard,†Crane said.
Late Thursday afternoon Crane spoke with Peculiar’s mayor who took $100 off her bill. The mayor was also giving her 90 days to pay the balance.
Crane said she was grateful for the break, but she still didn’t know how she was going to pay the bill.
Breit reported that some KMBC viewers have offered to help Crane pay the sum.