High Water Bills To Be Discussed At Community Meeting on April 14th

Board of Assessment Appeals member Candyce Scott is inviting people with high water bills to a meeting to discuss taking action on the issue on April 14th at the New Britain Public Library.

Scott and others have been concerned about cases in which residents may receive very high household water bills, possibly caused by water leaks that may have remained unknown to the residents of the homes for months.

Scott, saying she had never incurred high bills previously at her Lawlor Street home, acted on the issue when she received a $5,000 water bill, herself. Scott told the New Britain Progressive in January that she contacted the city about this, and a city water employee inspected the water meter and fixtures in her home and found no leaks.

Other residents have questioned the fairness, even in cases where a leak is found, of extraordinary high water bills in cases in which a city resident may not have been aware of or at fault for the leak. While some have said that they have experienced an unwillingness from the city to show flexibility in those cases, the city appears to have had a history of far more tolerance for leaks in its own pipes.

When the state Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) rebuked Republican Mayor Erin Stewart’s proposal to allow strip-mining of New Britain’s protected drinking watershed land, one of the CEQ’s 2018 findings was that New Britain had, “an increasingly leak-prone water distribution system,” and the CEQ said, again in 2018, said that, “New Britain’s loss of potable water during transmission is about 25% higher than the norm.”

New Britain’s water system which has considerable watershed assets in the region for itself and other towns, will require new investments and “preventive maintenance”, according to Water Department Director Ray Esponda who told the Hartford Courant in 2018 when he was appointed to be the director that New Britain’s water infrastructure, “requires maintenance and care, and eventually we have to replace some of those 150-year-old pipes and 1920s pump stations.”

The case of Scott’s large bill and others prompted Ald. Aram Ayalon (D-3), in January, to call for a report from city officials on the issue. Ald. Ayalon said in January that he submitted the City Council petition calling for the city water officials to, “provide information as to how residents are notified of outstanding water bills.” Council petitions are a process in the New Britain City Council whereby an individual Council member can require city departments to provide information or respond with a report or an investigation.

To avert disputes and head off water charges that run into the thousands of dollars Ayalon also proposed an amendment to the city ordinances (Sec. 23-241) that would alert homeowners before incurring large bills and encourage action on faulty plumbing or leaks. “Property owners shall be given a warning to fix within 90 days after identifying the problem,” Ayalon’s amendment states. “Customers are advised to read their meters frequently in order that leaks of water may be detected early and large bills prevented.” The ordinance change was promptly tabled by the Republican majority on the Council.

On April 30, 2021, Republican Mayor Erin Stewart signed an ordinance change approved by the Council that bills property owners quarterly. While the time between water bills during which a large bill could be accumulating would be reduced to three months under the new policy, Ald. Ayalon said that, “Often the water department investigates and finds nothing and then forces the consumers to settle but still paying huge amounts. I believe these bills should be cancelled, period!”

Scott says that she is concerned about a lack of action from the city on questions Ald. Ayalon has raised and is calling for other concerned residents to join her on April 14, 2022 at 6:00pm in the Community Room at the New Britain Public Library. Scott and other residents have formed an ad hoc committee to examine excessive water bills and to advocate for more responsiveness to their concerns at the Water Department.

“At this meeting,” Scott says, “we will discuss how the community can make its voice heard on this issue, and will plan an action for the city’s next Water Commission meeting, which will be Wednesday, April 27 at 6:30 pm.

The New Britain Public Library is at 20 High Street.

Editor’s note (4/15/2022): The article was updated to reflect that the Board of Water Commissioners meeting was changed from April 20, 2022 to April 27, 2022.