The Washington City Council discusses an error made on a water bill at Parkside Estates at their meeting Tuesday. Photo by Sally Y. Hart

A $22,000 water bill for one month was the first hint of something wrong at Parkside Estates in Washington. That bill was sent to the Loyal LLC, the owners, in Georgia in July. Attorney Richard Bordwell spoke at Tuesday’s Washington City Council meeting on behalf of the owners, he said, “Imagine if you would, your water meter sewer reading is 10 times what it normally is. So if you normally have a $100 monthly bill, it’s $1,000, that’s kind of what happened here.”

After investigating potential issues at the property, it appears that an extra zero was placed on the water usage, which escalated the cost. Bordwell shares the owner flew to Washington and invested time and money in an effort to solve the problem, because it was believed there may have been a leak. The property manager investigated each home at the property, businesses were hired to look for leaks, a back-hoe was hired and a sewer camera company was hired. But no major leaks were found.

Bordwell noticed the discrepancy on the bills this week. According to the bill sent in July, the park had used 520,000 gallons of water from May 15th to June 18th. An Olympic swimming pool holds about 660,000 gallons of water.

City Administrator Brent Hinson apologized, as did members of the council including Brendan DeLong, who called the situation “embarrassing.” City administration will work out the issue and produce a new, corrected bill. Councilman Jaron Rosien added he’d buy the owner’s lunch while he’s in town.