Officials in Escondido, Calif., are demanding that one woman pay up after she allegedly used the equivalent of about four swimming pools of water per day for a month.
Margaret Kreusser was hit with a water bill for more than $16,000 for her usage between December 2012 and January 2013, KNSD-TV reports. Kreusser, who claims that she only uses about 150 gallons of water a day, said her water bill is usually only $115 a month.
What could possibly be the cause of the large discrepancy? Officials are claiming that the large bill is a product of an 87,000-gallon daily water leak that occurred on Kreusser's property during that time. To put that number in perspective, the average family of four uses about 12,000 gallons a month, according to the EPA.
Kreusser maintains that no such leak took place.
Kreusser is not the only California woman who has had to deal with a water bill nightmare recently. Evelyn Haynes received a $2,700 water bill in March after officials insisted that she used 213,928 gallons of water that month.
In a similar incident, New Jersey man Kirit Kothari was charged with a $10,457.90 bill for water and sewer fees last year. Despite getting a lawyer involved, Kothari was forced to pay the bill.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated how much water the average family of four uses per month.
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