Bixby couple at loss to explain $1,900 water bill

BIXBY, Okla. (AP) -- Lisa and James Haynes say their $1,900 water bill just doesn't hold any.

From Dec. 6 to Jan. 11, the couple and their three children used 4,500 gallons of water for a bill of $20.96.

But for a roughly two-month period before that, the Haynes were charged for using 543,000 gallons of water at a cost of $1,884.26.

That's enough water to fill roughly five Olympic-sized swimming pools, said Joyce Hester, manager of Dolphin Pools in Owasso.

"Every person you talk to about it, they say it's the craziest thing they've ever heard," Lisa Haynes said.

Haynes said a meter reader for the Bixby Public Works Authority told one of her children in December that the home had a water leak, but she said the authority said later there were no leaks.

She did receive a cutoff notice, but the utility hasn't acted on it.

While officials have said they will work to get an explanation of the bill, the Haynes family has consulted a lawyer who advised them to pay the bill until the problem is resolved.

Another Bixby woman, Dolly Scott, said a water bill for a small house where her mother lives recently went from its $20 average to $600, indicating she used 202,000 gallons of water during a one-month period.

Scott said her old water meter tested fine and that there are no problems with a new water meter she got.