LeakBird

(Jan. 14, 2009, The Star Tribune)

In a move that would dampen water rate hikes in Minneapolis and seven suburbs, the city is moving to cancel a $90 million water filtration upgrade.
A staff recommendation would end work on the planned Fridley ultrafiltration plant, originally budgeted at far less than the expected cost. The move was endorsed [...]

(Jan. 12, 2009, The Modesto Bee)
From his desk in City Hall, Michael Cooke can tell if your toilet is running or if your automatic sprinklers have gone haywire.
Cooke is testing new software designed to track the water use of 17,000 Turlockers, then alert the biggest water hogs what they’ll pay once the city starts billing [...]

(Jan. 10, 2009, News 8 Austin)
Nothing beats a free ride, or seat, for that matter. That’s because the City of Austin is giving away vouchers for new high efficiency toilets to replace your old wasteful ones.
With a record drought here in Central Texas, water conservation is on everyone’s mind. But how can you make [...]

(Jan. 9, 2009, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

First, the city of Atlanta raised water rates 27.5 percent back in June.
Then, the Department of Watershed Management failed to add the rate hike to bills in a timely fashion.

And now, the city is back-billing to collect the money, listing it as “delinquent” on bills mailed in December, and shutting off [...]

(Jan. 6, 2009, Associated Press)
The green thumbs who keep lawns lush and flora flourishing in the city have found a new foe among the aphids, white flies and other yard pests — the water police.
“Nothing,” he said before driving on.
Just as some scofflaws keep an eye out for black-and-white patrol cars, gardeners have learned to [...]

(Nov. 19, 2008, Todd Kuhns)
I’ve been hearing some concern over one of the water ordinances that we passed on Monday. I’ve heard that a number of landlords were upset about it and I couldn’t understand why until I finally read the story in the paper and (worse) the story on KTVO’s website.
Folks, both of these [...]

(Jan. 2, 2009, The Tribune-Democrat)
When Cambria Somerset Authority purchased five area dams in 2000, economic development was a primary goal.
But the authority continues to struggle to find new water customers, and it requires annual cash infusions from both counties simply to stay afloat.
Now, the authority’s existing customers are feeling the pinch in the form of [...]

(Dec. 31, 2008, Wassau Daily Herald)
The Colby Municipal Water Utility is seeking its first rate increase in 20 years and it’s a gushing 81 percent.
Residential customers now paying $2.73 per 1,000 gallons monthly would pay $4.94 if the application is approved as submitted Dec. 22 to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. Residential customers also pay [...]

(Dec. 21, 2008, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Forsyth County water customers are facing another major rate increase, in part because they did what they were told: they conserved.

(Dec. 17, 2008, The Argus)
The increase in commercial water rates will have a crippling effect on local schools, Cllr Jim D’Arcy warned at the Dundalk Town Council’s annual budget meeting.
When informed that the charges, which have gone up to € 1.95 per cubic metre, would apply to schools, he recalled that a situation had arisen [...]

(Photo Courtesy of Treehugger.com via AP/David Zalubowski)
Tenants who fail to report leaking or running toilets to Landlords or property managers cause water billing nightmares.  Usually, the best a Landlord can do is figure out in which unit the leaking toilet condition occurred, schedule a plumber to fix the problem, foot the exorbitant water bill, then [...]

(Dec. 1, 2008, ABC News)
A lot of Americans are having to pinch pennies to make ends meet. That’s partly why hundreds of residents are fighting their water service company over an increase they didn’t see coming…
“I was stunned,” he recalled. “It was, ‘Oh my gosh, what are we going to do?’”
Turner gets his water [...]

(Nov. 29, 2008, The Reading Eagle)
Huge increases in Birdsboro water-sewer bills have customers wondering whether there’s something wrong with new meters installed by the Birdsboro Municipal Authority…

(Nov. 25, 2008, The Antelope Valley Press)
A new rate structure could influence Palmdale Water District customers to cut back on their water use: At least that’s what agency board members hope.
Water district board members listened last week to a presentation from Sudhir Pardiwala, vice president of Raftelis Financial Consultants Inc., the Pasadena-based consulting firm contracted [...]

(Nov. 1, 2008, Miami Herald)
Calderon noted that most high bills are caused by a leaking toilet, guests staying in the home or tampering.

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