94-year-old Kankakee woman fighting $600 water bills
Grace Bydalek, 94, hasn't lost her sense of humor.
"I'm surprised you didn't have to wade in here," she said with a smile Tuesday, as she welcomed her neighbor and Kankakee 2nd Ward Alderwoman Stacy Gall into her home. The retired teacher and guidance counselor was making light of the fact that Aqua Illinois has been billing her for a lot of water — as much as 83,000 gallons per month — for the past three months. For reference, 83,000 gallons is enough to fill a large in-ground swimming pool with five feet of water — about four times. "That's an awful lot of water," Bydalek said. "And it's just me living here. I run the dishwasher once a week. I do two loads of laundry a week. And I don't water the lawn." So she called the water company about her skyrocketing bills, and they sent out a representative. "He told me right away, my toilet was running. He could hear it. And that was my problem," she said. A check at the website enviroflush.com notes that a faulty toilet can waste about 400 gallons per day. In a month, that would add up to about 13,000 gallons. That would mean that Bydalek's home would need six faulty toilets to waste 83,000 gallons. But there are just two toilets in the comfortable home she's lived in for the last 20 years. "My bills used to always be between $30 and $40 — never $642.88, like that one." Bydalek and her longtime caretaker, Carol Rice, had spread the telltale bills out on the dining room table for Gall. Amid that paperwork was a separate bill from Webster's Plumbing and Heating of Kankakee. "They tell us that they stand by their work and they told us that they didn't find any leaks," said Rice. "And they even looked at that toilet they [Aqua] said was leaking. On the bill they didn't say it was leaking. They said they adjusted it so it would use less water." Craig Blanchette, of Aqua Illinois, noted the matter is not at a dead end for Bydalek. He was not directly involved with the investigation, and expected to hear more on the issue next week. Meanwhile, Rice noted that her calls and visits to the Aqua offices yielded only a "Leak Adjustment Request Form." Bydalek was asked to fill out the form and return it to offices in Bryn Mawr, Pa. — along with "copies of repair bills and receipts that confirm that the repair work was done." Of course, Bydalek has only the bill that states no leaks were found, so she has no use for the form. Rice insists there is only one alternative. "I think they ought to admit that it was their problem and give back the excessive amount that she's been paying," she said. "And then they ought to put in a new meter. I think this one is broken." Gall wasn't sure what the final outcome should be. "I'm just here to promise you that I am going to talk to the people at Aqua," she told Bydalek. "And I'm going to talk to Mayor [Nina] Epstein about this. I just consider this part of the position, to look out for your constituents. I haven't seen a problem like this before, but I definitely think we need to look into it." |