Rental house had a water leak causing high water bill. Who pays?

[Crystal Dudley]

I am fairly new to land-lording and this is the first time this issue has come up. In June I had two rental properties that had water leaks causing a high bill at one property ($217.00) and an extremely high bill (over $600) at the second. I spoke with the water department and was told if I sent in copies of the repair bills they would credit the accounts. However, they only credited $53.00 for the $200 and my other tenants have not received their updated bill, but I will assume it won't have much of a credit either. How is this typically handled? Does the landlord pay the difference or do they split the cost? As soon as we were told about a leak at both properties we immediately took care of the problem. Looking forward to hearing how others have handled a situation like this.