CHICAGO (CBS) — Getting Hosed was going to be a single story about a couple billed $58,000 for water they didn’t use. Now, it’s more than two years of chronicling unfair and potentially unlawful water billing practices in Chicago.

The CBS 2 Investigators have found the City department whose taxpayer-funded responsibility it is to provide safe, affordable drinking water has utterly failed consumers and undermined our investigative efforts at every turn. //

But what brought us to Ms. Ritchie wasn’t her impressive teaching background or her failing memory — it was her water bill, which she’s of course forgotten.

The bill for her Southside six-flat is now nearly $60,000 — for water that was never used. In fact, the building has been boarded up and vacant since her last tenant moved out in 2018. //

”I figured there was some kind of error, and we’d reason with the City of Chicago and they’d correct the error,” Russell said.

Figure again. Our series, Getting Hosed, proves bills only get fixed when the CBS 2 Investigators get involved. //

Despite our nearly two years of exposing the City’s bad billing practices, the City told Russell its system is “infallible.”

We’ve heard otherwise. //

When a metered account receives an abnormally high bill, the City chalks this water usage up to a leak and typically refuses to explore alternative causes.

In cases like Ms. Ritchie’s, even when the property owner has a plumber verify no leaks occurred, the City won’t budge on its stance.

Placing The Burden On Consumers

The real leaker, however, is the City. Data we obtained from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources shows its ancient infrastructure has leaked more than 67 billion gallons since 2016, which amounts to nearly $265.9 million according to Chicago water rates. //

Despite promising to end the threat of water shut offs back in October 2019, since she’s been in office, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s sent out 509,513 notices threatening to end consumers’ water service if they don’t pay.

We asked Lightfoot’s office why they would send out these notices — her office’s statement answered no questions. //

In addition to this lack of transparency, public record requests we’ve submitted are oftentimes delayed for months, and when we do receive them, critical information is almost entirely redacted.