Chicago woman billed more than US$233,000 for water she never used in vacant home with no plumbing

A Chicago woman was billed US$233,000 for water she never used in a vacant home with no plumbing. WBBM via CNN Newsource

A senior citizen’s vacant home in the Back of the Yards neighbourhood racked up a staggering $233,000 water bill, despite not having any plumbing for years.

Diane Carli, 82, said the city of Chicago is threatening to garnish her pension, and she’s looking for help because the Water Department isn’t backing down on an outrageous bill she says is clearly an error.

You don’t need 20/20 vision to see this house in the Back of Yards neighbourhood is abandoned.

“It’s gutted. … There’s nothing in there,” Carli said.

It has sat vacant for years, with no plumbing. Diane inherited the childhood property of her late husband in 2017. In December 2024, the city contacted her, telling her a new water meter needed to be installed.

“Why would you need to come in when there’s no water there, and I’m not asking for water,” she said.

She allowed the city to install a meter, and within six months she got a water bill that was out of this world.

“I said, ‘A bill for what?’ And they said for water,” she said.

Despite the vacant home having no plumbing, she’s been billed for $233,439.90 since the city installed the meter.

“This is unbelievable. This is totally wrong,” she said.

After the meter was installed, the Water Department said she used more than 500,000 gallons. They have placed her account in collections, and threatened to garnish her pension.

“I’m slow, I’m dumb, whatever you want to call me, but it’s going to take an Einstein to figure this s*** out. I don’t care what you say,” she said.

Her daughter, Lisa, went to City Hall to fight the bill, with no luck.

“As soon as you touched our property and made entry into our property, now we have water bill of $233,000,” Lisa said.

The family turned to Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) for help, but he couldn’t get the Water Department to back down.

“The most we got was yesterday, they said, ‘Well, we’ll take off $25,000 in penalties for late charges,’” he said.

“I’ve never in my lifetime seen a bill like that,” Diane said.

For years, CBS News Chicago has uncovered countless Chicagoans who all got hosed by outrageous bills for water they never used, and it continues.

“One would think that, after six years of seeing your stories on Getting Hosed, people within the Water Department, people within the Law Department, and people within Finance would understands mistakes happen,” Lopez said.

“They’re going to put me in the grave with this, because what do I do?” Diane said.

The city recently came back and replaced Diane’s water meter, which is registering zero water usage.

Lopez and the family are fighting the city to eliminate the entire bill.

Diane is far from alone with her water bill woes. For years, CBS News Chicago has reported on this issue with our Getting Hosed series, leading to the Chicago City Council approving a water bill relief program last year.