Water, Water Everywhere

I got my water bill last week.... Fifty something dollars! It is usually around $18.00, Thirty something since Mandy has been here. But fifty? Sherrill said, "don't worry, that's about right. Y'all have washed alot of clothes". I let a day go by, then Thursday I called the water people. They say the same thing, don't worry, it's just where you had company for Christmas. I'm still thinking, "I will NOT pay fifty dollars a month for water"! I ask them to send a guy back to read the meter (we recently got one of those radio read meters). He came, read the meter, and told me "Lady, you have water running somewhere? " I'm thinking, is this a question or a statement.

I tell him no water is running inside. And he repeats "Mam, you have water running, you MUST have a leak. You need to find it." He gets in his truck and leaves. I pick up the phone and call Sherrill. He tells me he will be here after work to check it out. What?! I could be flooded by then. He calls James, and my dear son comes and crawls under the house, not a leak to be found. I call Sherrill and tell him, "I really think you need to come home so we can find this leak!" He said OK. He has to dig in the front yard to find the leak, and there it is, less than a foot from the meter box. The line has been cut, patched, and held together by two rusted clamps. We call the plumber, he can't come until the next day. So Sherrrill goes and gets MORE clamps to try to stop this leak. By the time he finishes, he has FIVE clamps on this one little line. He turns the water off outside before we go to bed, and then back on the next morning before I get up. The plumber comes on Friday, fixes the leak, and puts a cut off valve out by the meter. Now I will be able to turn the water off myself in case of emergency!

I'm waiting to see what my next water bill will be. There will be about 20 days of additional leakage added to it! Oh well, at least we got it straight!