Residents in a suburb of Wichita, Kansas, have complained about a big spike in their water utility bills despite claims of no apparent increase in usage. Over two dozen households in Kechi, located in Sedgwick County, have expressed alarm at their water bills hundreds of dollars more than usual and have lodged complaints with the city council which has launched an investigation. City Administrator Matt Jensby said that the city was “working through” the complaints.
Newsweek has contacted the City of Kechi for comment outside of office hours. Residents who attended a Kechi council meeting on August 27 expressed anger and confusion over the unexpected increases. Pam Gearheart said she and her husband were shocked to receive a bill of nearly $800 despite no change in their water usage or any apparent leaks.
After 27 years of relatively stable bills, she questioned why the charges had suddenly risen. Gearheart said the couple had repeatedly checked their toilets and other systems for leaks but found nothing that could explain the increase. Another resident told The Wichita Eagle that her bills had fluctuated from $250 in May to $97 and then $216 in July, prompting her to call for the issue to be investigated.
Dennis Poell also disputed the idea that his household could have used enough water to account for the higher charges. He said he did not have a pool and joked that, if he was paying for that much water, he should at least have been filling someone else's pool. The complaints were not limited to individual households.
Local artist and business manager Karen Karg told KWCH 12 News that the July bill for one of her buildings was more than twice its usual amount, despite the building using virtually no water. Mark Bradbury also said his bill had doubled in a month. He acknowledged that a hose left running overnight may have contributed to part of the increase, but believed the new water rates accounted for the remainder.
Kechi’s dispute comes as water utilities across the U.S. face mounting pressure to raise revenue as aging infrastructure, maintenance needs and other operating costs increase. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the nation’s drinking water systems will need about $625 billion over the next 20 years for infrastructure improvements, including the replacement or rehabilitation of aging pipelines. The American Water Works Association has similarly warned that utilities are confronting a combination of aging infrastructure, regulatory requirements, climate resilience needs and other rising costs.
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