H?ow much water does your family use every month? Are you sure? For the last ten years Bernie Chap believed his family’s monthly water consumption was a steady 12,000 to 17,000 gallons. “I really had nothing to compare it to,” says Chap. “We really don’t talk too much to the neighbors” about their water bills.

That changed a few weeks ago when Chap spotted a surprising change in his water bill. Chap, a businessman, had saved his water bills going back to 1998. What started his one-man investigation was a water bill that went off the charts. According to the latest bill, instead of the usual 12,000 to 17,000 gallons, the same family of five had used a staggering 39 thousand gallons in one month.

Seminole County water technicians checked the meter and found it was reading at 180 percent of actual usage. The meter was replaced. And that’s when the mystery unfolded.

Chap’s next five bills showed that his family was consistently using far less water than he’d been charged for in the past decade. “They’re way out of whack,” he says. “The readings now are about half of what they’ve been for the last 22 years.” (Chap and his wife moved to their modest Oviedo home in the 1980s with just their son at the time. The family reached full rank between 1998 and 2007.) In 2002 they added a well for irrigation—further adding to this meter mystery. 

According to accepted national averages, a family of four uses roughly 8,000 gallons of water a month. Add landscape irrigation, and the average jumps to 16,000. Some homes here use more than 40,000 gallons a month.

Bob Briggs, finance manager for Seminole County’s Environmental Services Dept., hasn’t solved the mystery yet. According to Briggs, there are no leaks in the lines inside or out. “We had no reason to believe it wasn’t accurate,” says Briggs. Chap thinks his paper trail proves he should be getting a water-bill rebate. “What’s fair is fair,” he says. “If you overcharged me and you see it in print, fix it.” The county has agreed to credit the Chap family—for 12 months, not ten years.

Briggs says the county is taking a closer look at the case. In his view, this case is a real wake-up call for all county residents. “You can check your consumption for as far back as you’ve been a customer,” he says. “Be proactive . . . Know where you’re spending that resource.”

   The county has set up online access to your water bill history at www.seminolecountyfl.gov/envsrvs/business/index.asp. Select Water and Sewer Accounts and follow the prompts to get to your account. Your water bill has a PIN number that will let you check your usage. If it doesn’t add up, ask the water company (the number’s also on your bill) to check the meter and solve the mystery. S

Mike Holfeld is a reporter for WKMG Local 6 News, and a regular contributor to Seminole magazine.