CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Water worries are an everyday stressor for April Fanning and her family after she recently got a more than $7,000 water bill.
Fanning started renting her Chesapeake home in March 2022. She said the first bills totaled around $150, until a $600 bill came along, followed by two $3,000 bills.
“We had plumbers out," Fanning said. "They can’t find leaks, nobody can find what is going on, where is this water going.”
The Hampton Roads Sanitation District serves all seven cities. City leaders set the water rates and a joint bill from the city and HRSD goes out to families.
Fanning said she had called Chesapeake Public Utilities for help.
“The water company, they want to work with us to solve it or to find a solution,” Fanning said. “But what we are being told is they will do a water adjustment, they will halve the bill and we are stuck with half the money. That is still $4,000 we are going to be on the line for."
Danielle Abbassi, who owns the home, said the property had brand-new plumbing when she bought it in 2019. She said Fanning even replaced toilet parts just in case.
“Even if there was a leak, $7,000 is not justifiable,” Abbassi said. “It has me wondering where is the humanity in it?”
Abbassi recently posted on Facebook about the issue. Fanning said other families in Hampton Roads are now posting about similar unexpected water expenses.
“There is a lady with an $11,000 water bill, there is a man with a $5,000 water bill,” Fanning said. “It is the same story, there is no leak, and they are stuck with half of the bill waiting for their water to get shut off.”
“We started just looking at it in the Chesapeake area and people are saying this is happening in other cities too,” Abbassi said.
A spokesperson for HRSD said a customer experiencing a water leak should contact their city's utility services. They say city utility staff will decide how much to adjust the water charges and forward that information to HRSD.
A spokesperson for the city of Chesapeake said they understand the stress higher bills can bring to homeowners:
“Higher bills are most often due to unseen or unexplained leaks, whether from a toilet that’s been running or from damaged pipes underneath the home. The Chesapeake Public Utilities Department will do what they can to help identify potential sources for the increased water consumption and will provide leak adjustments and/or payment plans when appropriate. If you notice a higher-than-normal bill, call Public Utilities at 757-382-6352 or email Water@CityOfChesapeake.net.”
Fanning said she hopes for help with her bill but also wants answers on how her household could have used so much water.
“I never thought I would feel this insecure financially, I have never felt this in my entire life,” Fanning said.
After 13News Now left Fanning’s home on Friday, she said a customer service representative with Chesapeake Public Utilities called and said they would send someone out to do another meter reading next week.