Homeowners Can't Believe Water Bills

"I mean I was, I was literally shocked!" That's what Pamela Petery says, and some of her neighbors are just as upset.
Petery lives in Lakes of Sherbrooke near Lantana Road and the Turnpike and her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she got her latest water bill.. In one month, she says it nearly tripled. "I mean this is ridiculous! Three times the amount. Have you ever had a water bill that high? Never!" Petery says.
She's not the only one. The guy who lives across the street from her says his water bill from Palm Beach County Water Utilities also shot way up in one month. From $45 dollars to $177 dollars.
"My average is about seven-thousand gallons a month and then all of a sudden they said I used 30-thousand gallons," said Anthony Vinci, a homeowner in Lakes of Sherbrooke. "It just doesn't make sense!"
He says there's got to be a mistake somewhere.
"I just can't figure out and fathom how I could've used that much water'" Vinci said as he studied his bill.
Another guy on the same street, Blue Cypress Drive,also says his bill shot up recently. Usually it's $80. In March he says it was $190 dollars.
"Somethin' ain't right. We don't use that much water! My sprinklers haven't been on in two years, homeowner John Kmitch told us.
"I've lived here 25 years and I've never had a water bill that high," said Bud Givens, another resident on the same street.
"All of our bills quadrupled out of nowhere!" Vinci said.
That makes eight or ten people in this same neighborhood that we know of, all with water bills that've doubled or tripled. And all are customers of Palm Beach County Water Utilities.
"Your first instinct is call 'em. And their response was well you must have a leak. Everybody in the neighborhood has a leak. When you call everybody's being told the same thing? The same thing," said Petery.
We went there to try to get some answers.
"How do you respond to all these people who are alll saying gosh I've never seen a water bill this high. There's gotta be some mistake. Well our belief is that people have used the water. May was a very, very dry month," said Bevin Beaudet, director of Palm Beach County Water Utilities, which serves about 200-thousand customers.
It's gotten so bad some are practically dreading going to the mail box, wondering how much higher their water bill will be next month.