Water meter out of control. Utility not helping - Please help!!!

[Mike A.]

We've owned a building for about 3 years in the city. We just received our water bill for said building last week. We called the useless water dept, and they sent someone out. The water meter is going out of control, but we couldn't find the leak. We sent two different plumbers, they couldn't find a leak either. The water dept has no idea what's going on and offers no assistance. Meanwhile, for a six unit building, we have a 2.5k water bill that is normally around 500.

Anyone ever have a situation like this? What do I do? Please help.

[John Teachout]

Ask the city to change the meter. That you have no confidence in the present one. If you can have access to all the units and ensure everything is "off", you can then check the flow indicator on the meter to see if it is still indicating water usage. The most common place for a building to lose that much water is via a toilet.