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One Home Tops Cobbs Water Hog List

Posted: 6:34 pm EST November 8, 2007Updated: 4:22 pm EST November 10, 2007

Cobb Water officials are drafting a warning letter to high water users. Soon, rates will nearly double for customers who use more than their share. Channel 2 dug through the records and found the top home on the list.

Channel 2 obtained months and months of records from the Cobb County Water System. One address rose to the top of the list month after month – a single house that last month used enough water to fill 1,000 hot tubs.

“I think it’s absurd, I really do,” said Ken Scott. Scott lives across the street from 4151 Thunderbird Drive. It’s a single home that uses as much water as a 60 home subdivision.

“With all the pressure on everybody not to use water and to conserve…I think it’s ridiculous,” said Scott.

Over the past six months the address has used an average of 390,000 gallons of water. Last month it was 440,000 – up 15% from last October when there was no crisis. That one home would drain the nearby water plant’s filtration field in less than a year.

“We face a real resource issue,” said Water Conservation officer Kathy Nguyen. Nguyen fears even when Cobb County doubles the cost of water for high-end users it may not matter. “A lot of people think that’s the cost of doing business for me…it’s more important that I use this water than it is for me to reduce my use,” said Nguyen.

The house is not your average user and the house doesn’t have your average meter. It’s a 2 inch meter, which is big enough to service a strip mall.

Channel 2 has no evidence the home’s owner is violating the water ban. Channel 2 attempted to ask him but he didn’t want to talk.

Cobb County will start charging its new high-end rates early next year -- $5 per thousand for 50,000 gallons and up. Channel 2 figured last months water bill for the home would go from about $1,250 to $2,100.

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