A Central Saanich couple estimates their next water bill will be to the tune of over $3,000 after discovering a leak in their water main.
First-time home owners Calvin Chok, 26 and Michelle Lee, 30 were shocked when they found their water meter with a reading of 2,086 cubic-metres of water. They haven’t received their bill yet, but Chok calculated the bill to be just over $3,000 — a bill the young couple says they cannot afford and should not be responsible for.
“It’s a pretty bad feeling,” Chok said. “We find it pretty unfair to maybe be charged that much when we didn’t even use the water.”
A family member pointed out some dampness on the couple’s driveway on a dry, sunny day at the beginning of April. Chok said he and his wife didn’t notice it sooner because there has been so much rain and everything has been wet. At the source of the dampness, Chok dug up a nearby flowerbed, in a pool of water, to find the leak. Chok called a plumber right away who fixed the leak, but according to Chok, the plumber said to avoid reburying the main until it can be replaced altogether, as a leak is likely to occur again.
Worried about the potential cost of his upcoming bill, Chok called the District of Central Saanich. According to Chok, Central Saanich offered him and Lee a discount, something that Chok says is not good enough as he estimates the bill would still be around $2,000.
“I just hope they change the way of dealing with this problem,” Chok said. “If we caught this a few days later or even a week later it could have easily been up to a few more hundred dollars.”
The District’s Chief Administrative Officer Patrick Robbins said there is a rate associated with leaks imbedded in the municipality’s bylaw. Typically when a leak occurs and there is abnormal water usage the rate is reduced to the bulk rate charged by the Capital Regional District.
According to the CRD website, the approved wholesale water supply rate for 2017 is around 64 cents.
At this rate Chok and Lee’s water bill would still be over $1,000. Chok said for the year he and his wife have lived in their home the bill has not exceeded $300.
Robbins said there are meter readings every fourth months, which is consistent with other municipalities.
“Nowhere in the CRD has real-time monitoring,” he said.
Chok said he wishes there was a wireless way of keeping track of water usage or that a warning would occur after a certain amount of water usage; instead, he and Lee are faced with paying the water bill and replacing the main.
“No one warned us about this as new homeowners. I wish someone would have warned me,” Chok said. “We want to warn other people in the area.”
If a meter reading comes back unusually high, Robbins said, an investigation is conducted before the bill is sent to the property owner, adding that leaks and high readings are rare occurences.
There are generally signs of potential leaks.
“We’re working on limited experience here, but often signs of leakage appear on peoples property – water pooling or saturation in a particular area. If it is a significant leak then it does manifest in a particular way,” said Robbins. “(Property owners) might want to further investigate. That’s just a practical thing.”