NEW ORLEANS —
Rocks, construction cones and large holes litter a woman’s street in Gentilly
"I'm waiting for them to come finish the job,” the woman said.
The woman who called Eyewitness News doesn’t want her face shown, but she does want answers. She lives on the 5100 block of Western Street. Since October, she’s had issues.
“The water leak was so bad for so long, it started growing Algae,” the woman said.
Two months later, crews started working but the problems kept flowing.
“They cut this hole through the street. Through my neighbors yard and in doing so, my water meter broke,” the woman said.
She didn’t have water service for two days.
“Those guys were great. The problem was their training system wasn’t! My husband who is a contract was telling them look, you don’t have dig all of this up!”
When she opened up her recent bill, her jaw dropped when she saw her bill totaling over $121,000.
“I was like what! Where’s the checks and balance in this system. In this software to say this is a bad bill,” the woman said.
She says she called the Sewerage and Water Board. They told her they’re investigating the dispute, but it could take a few months. For now, she says the department told her to pay the $100 amount that she usually does.
“But I’m concerned that they’re going to cut off my water if I don’t pay the bill!!” The woman said.
Sadly her neighbor Erica Smith isn’t surprised. Not too long ago, she got an inflated bill for $700.
"I've been waiting for about a year! Now, on this investigation bill' and my balance still sits high and all I can do is pay what I can pay,” Smith said.
Eyewitness News reached out to the S&WB after hours this evening to find out the contractor for this project and about her bill and are waiting for an official response.
The only thing this woman is hoping for now is for this problem to clear up.
"I'm grateful they came and fixed the water! I'm grateful I have water! But this is a mess. And when am I gonna get my street back,” she said.
Problems like what this woman is facing with the high water bills was supposed to be fixed months ago.
The board said they were going to tweak the Cogsdale billing software in order to repair high water bills from going out. The status of those changes remains unclear.