Retired school teacher and current property owner Sally Carter received a shock when she opened her water bill.
"I had no clue, zero clue, and I'm like 'Oh my God!" said Carter.
Carter owns several properties around Las Vegas and she manages all of them herself. She says when the water bill came in for one of her homes near Charleston and Lamb, she freaked out.
"I didn't even realize it was $651, and the next month my bill was $800 something, and I about had a cow," said Carter.
Contact 13 obtained documents from the Las Vegas Valley Water District.
Sure enough, the staggering bills showed huge amounts of water were being consumed.
"I'm not as observant as I should've been. I should've caught that in August but I didn't really," said Carter.
Carter reached out to water authorities as soon as she could. Investigators began looking at the daily usage and noticed a familiar pattern.
The water flow at the home was constant around 2 gallons per minute over a 30-day period.
At that rate, more than 80,000 gallons would be consumed, which would fill approximately 4 backyard swimming pools.
The investigation revealed a failed toilet flapper was the culprit.
Sally and her adult son replaced all of the interior parts of the toilet and the water usage plummeted.
The Las Vegas Valley Water District credited Sally $733 after the repairs were complete.
A spokesperson said the two major causes for high water bills are failed toilet components and irrigation system malfunctions.
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