- Fort Lauderdale homeowner disputes over $60,000 in water bills after underground irrigation pipe leak, city grants nearly $30,000 credit.
A Fort Lauderdale homeowner is disputing more than $60,000 in water bills after an underground irrigation pipe at the property broke and ran for weeks before anyone noticed. The City of Fort Lauderdale says the meter accurately recorded the water that left the system. But the homeowner, is adamant that the math doesn’t work out.
According to NBC 6 South Florida, Gisel Valdivia is representing the owners of the home, which they bought in 2024. Their water bills had been routine until March 3, when the city emailed to flag unusually high water consumption at the property. The first bill that arrived afterward totalled more than $32,000.
Valdivia had been traveling and shut off the water at the property on March 20 once she returned. An irrigation company she hired found that an underground three-quarter-inch pipe had completely broken, and repaired it on March 27. Valdivia submitted the documentation of the repair to the city on March 30 to request a credit…