GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Reynaldo Jenkins Jr. was told his parents' water was going to be disconnected if the bill wasn't paid by Sunday.
In a normal month, paying the water bill would be no problem, he said, standing outside their Goodyear home.
But the March bill came in at $1,600.
Jenkins's parents are 85 and 79. His father is battling colon cancer, his mother has Parkinson's disease. Jenkins said he moved in with them a few months ago to help care for them.
But the $1,600 isn't exactly in the budget – neither is the $400 bill that came in April.
And the Jenkins family is baffled by where all that water is supposedly going.
"The house would be flooded with water," Jenkins said, "you would have some water damage on the walls or any kind of sign."
Instead, the house is intact, the yard is dead or dying and the pool has been empty for years, Jenkins said. He sees no sign of any leak, either from the pipes leading to the house or inside of it.
According to the water bills reviewed by 12News, Goodyear is charging the family for the equivalent of over 100,000 gallons of water in March alone. Their previous bills rarely topped $70 for around 4,000 gallons.
"If there was a leak we would have seen water everywhere," Jenkins said.
Now, the Jenkins family is about $2,000 behind in their water bills after only two months. They said they can't afford to have a plumber out to check the house for a potential leak, much less pay off the water balance.
The City of Goodyear on Friday afternoon told 12News the Jenkins will get a reprieve and their water will not be shut off while the city investigates.
A city spokesperson sent a statement saying:
We understand that sudden spikes in utility bills can be alarming to residents. We are taking additional steps to look into why there are high usage readings at this residence by processing more detailed data which will identify whether there is a leak that the homeowner is unaware of. Until then, their water will not be shut off.
Goodyear has many resources to help residents identify potential leaks, including a free in-person water check from our water conservation team. We'll even provide a smart home water device to help catch leaks and monitor usage.
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