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Tea Farm subdivision homeowners seeing bills up to $775 for two-person home linked to irrigation

RAVENEL, S.C. (WCSC) — Dozens of residents in a small Ravenel neighborhood are frustrated with recent expensive water bills and a reported high usage of water.

Neighbors living in the Tea Farm , a new residential area by Ashton Woods, are all experiencing bills up to $775 and seeing tens of thousands of gallons of water allegedly used on their Charleston Water System bills. The bills range from the $200’s to the $700’s. However, officials with the Charleston Water System say their meters are working, there are no leaks and the issue seems to be between the developer and the residents in the area.

“We instantly logged on and looked at all the accounts, and we sent some guys out in the field to take a closer look, and we even talked to people in the community to find out what’s going on, and it’s extremely clear to us that the residents or the builder, have been irrigating to an incredible amount, using thousands and thousands of gallons to irrigate the new grass and the new plantings that have gone into these homes,” Mike Saia, Charleston Water System director of communications, says.

Residents say it wasn’t them.

Within the subdivision, residents shared that they were all given four sprinklers and two timers at the time of closing. While many residents realized sprinklers could be the source, they switched them off, but are still experiencing bills in the hundreds. Water officials say the source could be coming from the builders planting and watering new sod within the neighborhood and the costs falling on the homeowners. They revealed their data shows hours of irrigation. The subdivision is brand new and currently only has 63 built homes, with hundreds more to come.

“So what you have is a challenge between the homeowner and the builder over who’s responsible for the water bill,” Saia says. “Unfortunately, Charleston Water System does not have a mechanism to step in and help these people with their bills because they did use the water, and so they have to be charged for the water, just like anyone else who uses water, but we hope that the residents can find a way to work with the builder to resolve their conflicts.”

Water officials broke down what normal rates for residents outside the city of Charleston should look like. They say the average customer uses around 750 gallons of water per bill, but all of the concerned residents had tens of thousands of gallons of water reportedly used.

“Those are bills that you see often when people fill a swimming pool, or in this case, when they irrigate their front yard for about a week straight with four times a day running the hose for a few hours,” Saia says.

The Charleston Water System says they understand the frustrations and hope a resolution comes quickly. They also confirmed the next bills are on the lower end, and the gallons of water have gone down, but they can’t say it won’t happen again with new homeowners.

“Our heart absolutely goes out to people every time they get an exorbitant bill,” Saia says. “But unfortunately, there’s no mechanism for them to recoup any costs because they did use the water and whether the builder used the water or the homeowner, it still came from the residents’ taps and so they are fully responsible for that bill.”

Judi Guerrero remembers getting her first water bill and feeling in shock when seeing that her home had reportedly used nearly 22,500 gallons of water in only 13 days, resulting in a $562 bill. Although Guerrero’s second bill she received was $257, she says she’s never received a bill that high anywhere else in the Lowcountry. She even stopped watering the lawn and cut down on showering multiple times a day.

“The entire neighborhood is literally talking about this,” Guerrero says.

There are many residents just like her experiencing the same jaw-dropping moment when reviewing their bills.

Pam Paternoster moved into the subdivision on June 23 and received a five-day bill for $374.

“We just have to get this rectified because this is crazy,” she says. “This is a huge problem. The mayor is aware of it. The Charleston Water Department is aware of it. We need answers and we need resolutions.”

Now the question is: will this keep happening to new residents and who will ultimately be held responsible for the water they allegedly used?

Kristine Goodrich is a first-time homeowner and says the bills have been “especially discouraging.” Goodrich and her husband closed on their home in May, but have already been billed $775.93 for a reported 15,668 gallons of water usage.

“Saving enough for a down payment and purchasing our first home was already a major financial hurdle, even with both of us working good, full-time jobs,” Goodrich says. “We were incredibly excited to become homeowners after years of renting apartments, but now we’re dealing with unexpectedly high water bills without a clear explanation for why our usage is so high.”

Goodrich has attempted to get answers throughout the process, but has been told it would cost $40 to have officials check for leaks and an additional $75 to receive daily consumption reports.

She was also told that installing a separate irrigation meter could help reduce sewer charges on outdoor water usage. The second meter would track outdoor water usage and homeowners would only pay sewer charges based on their indoor water usage, which typically decreases when the irrigation meter is used for outdoor watering. The total cost to install a ¾” domestic irrigation meter is $535.

However, she says for a two-person household that does not have an in-ground irrigation system and only hand-waters plants every other day, investing in a separate irrigation meter is currently not an affordable solution.

Cathleen and Anthony Derhovanesian are other residents reporting the same issue. They moved into their home at the end of May and their latest water bill from June was $472 with a reported usage of 21,857 gallons of water.

“When the usage is calculated over a full month, it equates to well over 30,000 gallons of water and sewer service, which we believe is unreasonable for our household,” Derhovanesian says.

They also compare it to their bill from their previous residence in Goose Creek, where, during the same amount of time, number of occupants and size of the home, they only used 3,600 gallons of water.

The Derhovanesians had a Charleston Water System representative inspect the property, but they found no leaks or any other issues with their plumbing.

“Personally, to the builder, I think if there is something on their end, they do need to confront with it and say, ‘Hey, we understand this is going on, we’re trying to figure it out,’ but they’re not trying to help us at all,” Katie McCants, another Tea Farm subdivision homeowner, says. “They’re just putting the blame on the water company, just like the water company is kind of doing to the builder.”

Many of the residents in the area say they are frustrated and are desperate for answers.

Ravenel Mayor Stephen Tumbleston says he’s pushing for the answers the new residents are looking for.

“I’m here to advocate for the new residents and the town staff is doing research on our end to confirm numbers are correct and there was a clean cut off when the homes were under the builders versus the homeowners,” Tumbleston says. “My office will be back in touch with Ashton Woods, Charleston Water System and the Tea Farm subdivision.”

The developer known as Ashton Woods says:

“Tea Farm has no community-wide automated irrigation system. The homes in the community were provided above-ground watering equipment, including garden hoses, sprinklers and battery-operated hose timers that connect to the home’s outdoor spigot. That equipment belongs to the homeowner and can be adjusted, reset, reprogrammed, or removed at any time. Water service is provided by Charleston Water System and transfers to the homeowner at closing. Ashton Woods has no access to a home’s water service after closing and does not have any control over individual homeowner water bills.”