There's a charming home near Country Club and University that is vacant and ready to rent, it's been that way for about a month.
The property owner was shocked when this month's bill came in at more than $4,200 dollars.
"They said we used right around 700,000 gallons of water," property owner Maria Giordano said.
Giordano explained that amount would fill the home's backyard pool every day for about a month. They started considering the possibility of a leak.
"If it was under the foundation, the house would be floating with that much water underneath it, it's just not possible," said Giordano.
Giordano said inspections around the house found no leaky toilets and no faulty sinks.
Giordano thinks the water meter in the front yard might now be the focus of her water woes.
"This has got to be a mistake," Giordano said. "They [City of Mesa] do regular reads, where they send a guy out to read the meters and I thought this has got to be a misread," Giordano said.
The City of Mesa released a statement regarding the water problem:
"On October 3, a City of Mesa meter reader, doing a regular monthly read, received a high water consumption alert notice when he entered information into his handheld device. He also noticed the house was vacant with a “For Rent” sign in the front. Under instructions from his field coordinator, he shut off the irrigation valve which stopped the meter from spinning. An investigation showed a leak coming from a broken irrigation pipe in the backyard. The valve was turned off.
This appears to be an isolated leak. There was nothing out of the ordinary when the meter was read a month earlier.
This afternoon, two city employees re-checked the property, which is still vacant, and discovered the house valve and the valve for the irrigation line were shut off. The employees could see the broken pipe in the backyard.
The City of Mesa will work with the customer on several options to reach a satisfactory resolution to the issue. The amount of the bill is $4268.38. The house is owned by Iron Rock Properties LLC."
Giordano acknowledged that Mesa has offered her a deal...of sorts.
"The city said I could do a payment plan, and I said that was not acceptable," Giordano said.
Instead of taking a bath, she said she's going to fight it.
She is planning on requesting a meeting with city managers because it's not right and she shouldn't have to pay.
