SILVER CITY, Iowa (KMTV) — Silver City residents were hit with unexpectedly high water bills at the end of June and the water company says a software problem is to blame.
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"I had a resident reach out to me. Their water bill went from $121 to $527," said Mayor Joseph Jaworski.
His own household also got one of those high bills.
"Yeah, so our water bill for a family of six typically averages $88 a month and our bill for this June period was $263," Jaworski said.
Silver City, which has about 250 residents, uses Omaha-based PeopleService to manage its water system. PeopleService executive Steve Robinette said in an email to KMTV that the billing problem "…appears to be due to a software upgrade/conversion."
Robinette says credits will be issued to affected customers.
One thing that became clear while reporting this story: water can expensive in a small town.
Beyond the billing error, one Silver City says her family spends hundreds of dollars a year over-and-above the city water bills.
"And on one income that's not always the easiest thing to do," said stay-at-home mom, Emma Bell.
The Bells have a system that filters out sediment, iron and chlorine from the city's water.
"And we had that installed first and we noticed that without the filters it smelled very bleachy," Bell said, pointing to the filtration system in her basement.
Robinette said the discolored water is due to needed system upgrades that are being planned, and that there is no danger to public health.
Bell, who lives next to the water tower, says the tower also overflows into her backyard: "My daughter got so used to it, she'd wake up in the morning and say 'Is the water tower overflowing?'"
She said, "It's completely washing out the whole backyard."
Robinette said the overflow occurs because the communication system between the water treatment plant and the tower does not always work and he believes there is a plan to fix the problem.
Bell says she is not waiting on a fix.
"My kids' health is more important than anything," Bell said.
In June, the town was awarded a federal grant to assist with upgrading its water systems.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
