Reserve Township woman searching for answers after getting $3,500 water bill, no explanation

RESERVE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The term sticker shock has a whole new meaning for one resident in Reserve Township after she returned home from work to find a notice taped to her door saying she owed nearly $3,500 for a water bill.

“There’s just no way that I used 112,000 gallons of water,” said homeowner Kristin Rebel. “I came home from work to a bill taped to my front door essentially saying that I had a shut-off notice for a water bill of $3,444 with no explanation for where this water went.”

Rebel received that notice last week and was originally told her water would be turned off May 1.

That deadline has been extended to May 21.

The nearly $3,500 bill is from December 1- March 1.

Reserve Township Manager Jan Kowalski explained that the township pays Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority for all water consumed by residents and then residents pay the township.

Kowalski says Rebel originally received a bill on March 15 and it was due April 15.

When it wasn’t paid, she says, Rebel then received the shut off notice.

”I’m a nurse, not a magician,” Rebel said. “I can’t just come up with $4,000 overnight.”

Rebel claims there’s no way she used the amount of water listed on her quarterly bill.

She says she’s previously never had a water bill over $300.

“They told me I must’ve had a leak or that I just was essentially nonstop running water in my home for three months straight,” Rebel said.

According to Rebel, she’s had two plumbers verify there are no leaks in her home.

In a statement to Channel 11, Kowalski said, “There was no evidence that the water usage indicated on the bill was not accurate.”

But Rebel is still not sold.

“Since the last reading in March, and it’s May 7, I’ve only used 3,000 gallons of water, so whatever was going on magically corrected itself,” Rebel said.

Rebel plans to go to the Board of Supervisors meeting on May 20 to speak about her situation.

Kowalski ruled out a payment plan for Rebel, saying Rebel has had 17 late payment or shutoff notices in the last five years.

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