past due City water bill

Whether it's ethical or not is not the issue. Find out whether it's legal or not. Talk to the Mayor or get probono legal assistance.

Warning, this is a rant.


I had a giant water bill after a break in my house, and the city water people here treated me well, considering - it ended up that the red cross helped me.

I unfortunately bought in a tract of small townhouses that I could deal with as far as liking (I am not your biggest tract fan, but that can depend).

I found out some time later that the developer had been sued by some community effort, but that was long before myself or neighbors bought, and that had been settled, in the late eighties.

In my time here, my townhouse immediate neighbor had a big water leak. I had a giant one, stripping my already small income from social security. A year or two later my neighbor's house on the other side was water reamed.

Just today, one of the guys in the townhouse two away from me saw me come out to get mail and told me they had a giant water leak and were redoing the whole system. He said it had happened to his next door neighbor too (she has since passed and the house is for sale).

Somehow I think this is all egregious, as the early suit was settled with the contracting company almost as the houses were built. I learned that early after some inquiries, after I bought.


The pipes are polybutylene, which I'd rarely if ever heard of, didn't know when I bought (that should be disclosed), and never seen the pipes for in my working life. I was a landscape architect until I retired after 25 years and have designed the systems of many places in southern california, tiny places and high end places and multi unit housing.

I might need to get my butt to the area association to find out just how many places in this f. tract have had to deal with this, but I might guess that hasn't been tabulated. Don't know, maybe I'm wrong.

I tend to blame the city, as from my perch, I have seen close to no sensible planning here, and where the hell were the inspectors or anyone who knew anything? (the grading is also odd), and don't get me going on drainage.

That makes no sense. The city just wants the bucks.