Politics & Government

Is Your Waltham Water Bill Higher Than Usual? Here's Why

A mistake by a city worker caused water bills to be higher than usual in Waltham.

The city is working to fix higher than usual water bills after a city employee made a mistake in reading meters, according to City Engineer Stephen Casazza. 

The mistake caused the water bills of at least 24 single-family homes in the Pigeon Hill neighborhood to be higher than usual, the engineer said. He estimated the number of impacted homes at 100. 

The city is working to issue credits for impacted customers on their next bill. They will not be issuing refund checks. That means, Casazza said, impacted users should pay the incorrect amount and wait for the credit on the next bill. 

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The error occurred when a meter reader failed to read the water meters that measure irrigation use, Casazza said. Instead, the worker only read the meters that measure the total water usage, which also includes sewer use. That, Casazza said, increased the bills. 

The worker who made the mistake was filling in for the worker who usually performs the readings in that area, Cazassa said. 

Find out what's happening in Walthamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"It is unacceptable. It happens in a big [water] system," Casazza said. 


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