Ottawa senior stunned by $1,500 water bill

An Ottawa senior is demanding answers after he was hit with a massive water bill when a hidden leak went undetected for weeks. CTV’s Dave Charbonneau reports.

A local man says he was shocked to receive a $1,547 water bill, more than 15 times higher than the usual, all because of a silent leak in a toilet in his basement.

Paul Malouin says he first laughed when he opened the envelope last week. “I thought, it’s a house. Like I would have had a flood. I would have had a pool sitting somewhere,” he said.

He contacted the City of Ottawa to find out what went wrong. They told him he has no choice but to pay the bill.

“This nice young lady calls me, and she says, ‘Oh yes, well, it’s bylaw. And now that it’s a bylaw, you can’t get any kind of rebate. You have to pay the full bill. No one’s allowed to go away without paying the full bill, no matter what,’” he said.

Malouin says he contacted the mayor’s office hoping someone could help but hasn’t heard back.

Adding to his frustration, Malouin says he was told he could have registered to receive high-usage alerts in advance.

“She says to me, ‘Oh, but, you know, you could have registered for this,’” Malouin said.

Malouin says he had no idea this was an option and that he should have been warned when his water started to abnormally spike.

According to the City of Ottawa, residents can register for consumption alerts by signing into their My Service Ottawa account and selecting “alert subscription.” The system can notify users by email when usage is consistent over seven days, exceeds average daily use, or surpasses a set threshold. Residents can also track daily and hourly water use and compare past bills.

“Homeowners are responsible for all water usage on their property as well as the repairs and maintenance of all plumbing fixtures,” read an emailed statement to CTV News Ottawa attributed to deputy city treasurer Joseph Muhuni.

“It’s important they ensure these are in good working condition and if a resident suspects a leak, they are encouraged to address the problem as soon as possible to avoid increases in their water bills.”

Malouin says the alerts should be automatic for everyone.

“Why isn’t it you get 20 per cent over, we send you a warning?” he said. “You don’t wait until someone has 15 months in one bill.”

He says the problem was most likely a newer toilet in a downstairs apartment he rarely uses. “It’s a brand-new toilet, too. Very new. And it’s very quiet.”

Dave Smythe, owner of Out of this World Plumbing, says even a small leak can lead to a big bill.

“It’s not actually a surprise. We hear that a fair bit, maybe not quite at that level, but certainly toilet issues are fairly common,” he said. “And it can only be a small little thing, but for a bill of that size, it was probably running on so it’s probably a flapper that just didn’t close properly, in which case it’s in your toilet, but essentially it’s the same as you just going in and leaving a tap turned on and just letting it run for two months. So it will put your water bill up quite high.”

Malouin, 68, hasn’t paid the bill yet, but says he’ll likely have no choice.

“This is a senior,” says Malouin.” He’s trying to live in his house alone. And you’re going to give him a bill that’s 15 months of water? How is that possible?”

Malouin believes others could be vulnerable, too. He says he’s half deaf and wouldn’t have heard the quiet leak, especially in a toilet located far from his living space.

“It doesn’t make sense that you would allow that to happen without saying there’s something wrong here.”

Malouin has lived in this house for almost 40 years and has an average water bill of about $90 every two months.