The Peterborough Select Board voted to further study the potential causes of a Union Street resident’s unusually high water bill after hearing his appeal.

On July 16, the homeowner, Mike Young, received a quarterly water bill for $222.77, indicating he had used 27,000 gallons in three months. He filed an abatement with the town on July 17.

“This makes no sense whatsoever,” Young said at the Wednesday night meeting of the Select Board. “If I had had a leak of this many gallons, I would have 2.5 feet of water in basement. If I had 300 gallons of water going through my system, I would have heard it. It would be like taking 15 showers a day and flushing my toilet 300 times. It doesn’t seem fair that I am being charged for water that I didn’t use, and I didn’t lose.” 

Young told the board his water bill and usage have been consistent for the six years he has lived in his home.

“My normal water bill is $46.41, for 300 to 500 cubic feet of water,” Young said. “Then I get this bill for $222. The water department is telling me either I’m lying, or that I let the hose water run for three months and didn’t notice.” 

Young said that as soon as he got the high bill, he contacted the water and sewer department.

“It was a Thursday, and they don’t work on Friday, so they came out at 8 a.m. on Monday, and they were unable to find any leaks,” Young said.

Water department staff also tested the meter on Young’s property but found no issues.

Assistant Town Administrator Seth MacLean said that according to the town code book, the Abatement Committee was required to deny the abatement. 

“According to code, we had to deny this abatement because we did not find any issues with leaks or with the meter. We tested the meter and did not find anything out of the ordinary,” MacLean said. “If it passes through a meter, the code book says we have to charge for it.”

When asked by the board whether he had any theories as to what might have happened, MacLean said he “couldn’t give a hypothesis,” adding that, “sometimes leaks are very hard to detect.”

“You would be surprised how much water a small leak can amount to,” MacLean said.

Young told the board he has not found or fixed any leaks since the unusually high bill, and that the next month his bill went back to normal.

“You tell me how that could have happened,” he said. 

Select Board Chair Tyler Ward said, “It’s a tricky situation.”

Young said he wondered whether the fire department activity on April 5, when the department burned down a house in a training exercise on  Union Street and used water from a nearby hydrant, could have impacted his water bill.

“I just wonder if I paid for that,” he said. “I want the difference abated.”

Town Administrator Nicole MacStay said she had concerns about abating the $176.36 change in Young’s bill.

“We don’t want to set a precedent,” she said. 

MacLean said the town receives requests for water bill abatements “maybe twice a quarter.”

Gary Gorski, a neighbor of Young’s, disagreed with MacStay’s concerns.

“If you’re worried about precedent, you could note that Mike had the town come out immediately, as soon as he got his bill.  He would not have had time to fix the leak,” Gorski said. 

Young said he had spoken to two customer service representatives at Zion, the manufacturer of the water meter in his home. 

“Two reps told me air getting in the meter could have caused this,” he said. “I’m telling you the truth. I had no leaks. I have only had one bill more than $47 since 2019. It’s always $46.41. I was hoping logic might win out here.”  

The board agreed to continue the investigation into the matter, including third-party testing of the water meter at Young’s home.