CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Neighbors in Chesapeake said that for the past six months they’ve seen higher water bills for an unknown reason.
Larry Bryant lives in the River Walk neighborhood of Chesapeake, and he said the bill is concerning.
"It’s an average of $190. But now, it’s $235 a month," Bryant said. "And I just noticed at periods we were away from the house, that the water bill either spiked or remained the same. And we’ve gone away for periods of like 10 days, 12 days."
Bryant said when he called about his bill, city employees checked his house for a leak.
"The next day they came out and checked the water and they gave me the tablets to put in the water to see if I had a leak," said Bryant.
Public Utilities Director David Jurgens says his team searches for leaks when they get a call to investigate a water bill account.
“We go in and we investigate every identifiable account to try and find out what’s really happening. We provide a leak protection kit. You put the dye tablet in the toilet and then you can see if that red water comes down and you know that you have a leak,” said Jurgens.
Bryant said they ultimately found no leak and that city leaders had no answers for him.
“I just thought it was strange you know when you keep calling and you have it checked. And there’s no explanation for it, you sort of accept it,” said Bryant.
Jurgens said that there is a small increase in cost that just kicked in this summer that homeowners may be seeing.
“The sewer portion for sewer treatment through HRSD have in fact gone up, so we’re talking about a six-dollar increase,” said Jurgens. But neighbor Shari Davis said that her bill showed a much higher increase.
“About, like, $30 more a month. The water bill was a very small bill. Like, it was a very small part of our budget.”
Davis said that she’s contacted the city numerous times, but that she still had not received an explanation.