Tucson (KGUN)—A Tucson woman says the water bill at her family home jumped from $62 per month to more than $2,700 over a two-month period. Annamarie Trujillo says her mother has lived in her Souths home in Tucson for more than 50 years and the water bill was always low. Then suddenly there was a major spike in the bill, putting a strain on the family’s finances.
“In June her water bill was $62.33, we got her next bill in July it was $1475.69 and in August they added another $1,200 on to that,” Trujillo said.
It turns out there was a major leak that occurred while the family was away. The family also says the problems started after the water meter was changed.
“I feel that when they turned the water off and back on they didn’t carefully turn the valve and the blast of water, the intensity and blast, ruptured her pipes,” Trujillo said.
9 On Your Side spoke to Tucson Water about a resolution and we discovered that they do have special programs to help low-income customers with assistance and referrals to get the bills lowered and paid. Funds are also available to do home repairs through the Community Home Repair Project of Arizona or CHRPA. According to Fernando Molina with Tucson Water, the Trujillo family was one of the first families to participate in the home repair program. Two toilets and an air conditioning unit were repaired.
“We immediately discussed the ability to obtain a payment plan. Tucson Water has funded for many years a program to replace toilets as part of our water conservation program, ” Molina said.
At this point the Trujillo family still have a $400 bill to resolve and they are still working to get it lowered.
