Hank Investigates: Down the Drain

It’s easy to get, but you know it’s not free. Turn on the tap, the meter starts. Hit the shower, turn on the sprinklers, the meter measures how much you're using and then your water bill arrives. But our investigation found you may be paying more than your fair share and even for someone else’s water.

Jim Terrio, Fall River Water Dept.
"I wouldn't say it's a dirty little secret, but it's a reality in the business."

Our exclusive analysis reveals that billions of gallons of water are literally missing -- leaking, unmetered, uncounted, some going into homes and businesses, but not being paid for.

Hank
"So some customers were literally getting free water?"

Jim Terrio, Fall River Water Dept.
"Yes they were."

Fire fighting and municipal buildings get free water of course, but State Department of Environmental Protection guidelines say in a well-run system, unaccounted-for, unbilled water should be less than 10 percent in each town.

Dave Terry, DEP
"We are very concerned that towns don't lose more water than they should."

But we examined hundreds of reports from deep in the DEP files and discovered more than half the time the amount of missing water is too high, Falmouth 20 percent, Lynn 22 percent, Holyoke 23 percent, Walpole 29 percent, Melrose 32 percent.

No one knows where that water's going and certainly no one is getting a bill for it. In Lawrence it’s 24 percent.

Hank
"So that means one out of every four gallons, you’re not getting paid for?"

Bob Fasio, Lawrence Water Dept.
"Well I haven’t actually done the math, but if yeah, that's the way that would come up."

In Dedham, more water is missing than goes to local schools, in Melrose more water is lost than goes to commercial users. In Lawrence, twice as much water is reported missing than is used for the whole town of Hopkinton. Officials blame old systems and low budgets.

Bob Fasio, Lawrence Water Dept.
"It shouldn’t work that, that, of course not, but that's the way it has been."

Unless there’s a local water shortage, state officials rarely review these numbers, but we found the statewide total of lost gallons is staggering. And our calculations were the first officials had ever seen.

Hank
"Twenty billion gallons, did you know that?"

Dave Terry, MA DEP
"No, we didn't."

Hank
"Does it concern you?"

Dave Terry, MA DEP
"Yes it concerns us. I think it’s probably pretty reflective of the situation we've got in Massachusetts."

So where is 20 billion gallons of water going? Some of it can be tracked. The Beverly Water Department for instance had pipelines full of leaks. Now their detection system finds the holes before the water disappears.

Michael Collins, Beverly Water Dept.
"The first step to saving water is actually finding out where it goes."

But we found in many communities, they're not even looking! State guidelines say that towns should check for leaks at least every two years, but our survey reveals dozens are not doing it and that is a massive drain on resources.

Don Thurber, Thurber Water Technologies
"You could be losing millions of gallons a year."

And here's where water down the drain becomes your money down the drain. Every customer, residential and commercial, has a water meter, it's supposed to measure exactly how much is used. But we discovered some meters are so antiquated, they're not accurately registering water flow.

Hank
"If you ignore the meters, what's the result?"

Jim Terrio, Fall River Water Dept.
"You're a fool."

That's because if the meter isn't counting correctly, someone's getting more water than they're charged for.

Hank
"So some customers are paying more because other customers are getting free water?"

Jim Terrio, Fall River Water Dept.
"That’s exactly it."

But our investigation proves many towns have not even begun to replace old meters and that brings up the bill paying bottom line. Even with aging leaky systems and faulty meters, towns must pay up front for their water treatment and supply. The only way to make up for missing revenue, experts warn, is to charge all customers more.

Ray Raposa, New England Water Works Assoc.
"Sooner or later the rates will just increase."

So next time you open your water bill, you might want to wonder, are you really paying the price of water or simply the price of neglect?

Our figures prove by some estimates that the total amount of unaccounted for water in Massachusetts is about enough to provide water for every resident of Boston for an entire year. DEP officials say they now plan to focus more closely on the problem.