The High Cost of Water
And No One Mentioned the Leak
It’s well known that water has become an increasingly precious resource internationally, as the water table has dwindled all over the world, and even dried up in parts of the Southern Hemisphere. Some countries already seem to be on the edge of water wars, and my friends out in California are sounding increasingly alarmed as they face another year of drought.
But I never thought water would become a problem for me, here in Minneapolis, blessed as we are by plentiful rainfall. Each home and business in my city is ‘wired’ to a central water monitoring system that remotely tracks actual usage. So you get billed based on how much water you use each month.
I had no idea I’d developed a leak in some well-hidden pipes until several weeks ago when I received a notice informing me I owed the water company almost $1,000.
Apparently for the past two months, unbeknownst to me, this hidden leak has been responsible for a massive overuse of water, surpassing — I would imagine — my rather ordinary use of water. (I don’t take excessively long showers, I don’t run the dishwasher when there’s only two plates used, and I don’t water a golf-club size lawn.)
If they can remotely track usage in real time, you’d think they could notify customers if their water use looks out of whack. If usage is being continually tracked, surely there must be some really simple code that would automatically send out alerts!!! To save water in our water-thirsty planet, and customers’ bank accounts.
Is anyone informed if there is a problem in their water usage, if it suddenly changed? I tried to find out. I’ve had a number of conversations with the customer service department of our local water company.
I was told, “We always notify folks.”
I asked if there was some reason I hadn’t been notified. The response: “Well sometimes we can tell … but not always.” This was followed by at least 30 seconds of silence, and then: “Well, we notify large companies if it looks as if there is a problem.” Too bad I’m not a large company.
Someone inside the system is getting an alert somewhere. Obviously, non-corporate customers aren’t alerted.
In a confluence of ‘coincidences’ I’d opted for online billing to save paper, postage and so on. A good citizen, I was saving the trees.
I never received the email bills. Not one. This was just around the time my water was pouring down the drain. I switched back to our reliable US mail — despite recently being threatened, pre-2020 election — to get my bills.
So I failed to discover my water leak until after buckets had wastefully and uselessly flowed, and I was hit with an unbelievably high water bill.
We know the amazing things that computer systems can track — like every item we casually browse on the internet. The city installed a ‘new updated’ and costly system several years ago. After I’d received the bill and called the company to inquire and complain, a service worker came out to check my meter. He was in despair at the complexity of this new hardware and software set up. He was planning to look for a new job after COVID-19.
The water company executives who chose the new system are long gone. Having worked for a software systems company myself I can imagine the sales pitch delivered to managers who had never purchased such a large, expensive and complex system. And none of the knowledgeable front line workers were invited to view and comment on its usefulness, practicality and ease of use.
Our water company has not been irresponsible across the board; we do have great drinking water and the city regularly lets customers know about its quality statistics.
There is a sequel to this. The county can help low income customers pay for such outrageous and unexpected bills, however it may take months for assistance to be accessed. Meanwhile the customer continues to receive past due fees tacked on to their regular bill each month.
This is another anecdote in my ongoing series on how customer service has been outsourced — to the customers.
