Excessive Water Bill Dispute Heading to Court

A Cedar Grove man who had to pay more than $10,000 for his water bill is not giving up the fight.

He wants to take the matter to court.

Kirit Kothari paid the $10,457.90 water bill in late June that he repeatedly claimed was excessive for his single-family home.

According to his attorney, Kothari, the Cedar Grove resident who was charged more than $10,000 for his quarterly water bill back in 2011 may soon begin litigation with the township of Cedar Grove

His usual bill for a quarter was around $110.

Kothari disputed the extraordinarily high bill for 15 months before he paid it in late June under the threat of having his water cut off.

His attorney, Charles Damian of Cedar Grove, confirmed he and his client are considering litigation against the township.

Damian has said,“My client received a water bill for almost one million gallons of water usage in one quarter. If there was a leak, it would be something you would hear and see the consequences of.” 

One million gallons consumed over 90 days equals more than 11,000 gallons of water per day.

To put that into perspective, according to Monarch Pools and Spas of Totowa, a 30 by 50 foot Olympic-sized swimming pool with a depth of 12 feet, would hold about 40,000 gallons of water.

Kothari and his attorney have been seeking out companies that specialize in testing water meters to gauge the normal water flow for Kothari's single-family property on any given month or any given quarter.

“We are in the process of commissioning one of these experts to gauge what the water bill should be,” said Damian. 

Damian remains concerned after a Star-Ledger report that the meter was recycled.

“I don't know why they would do that knowing that there was such a dispute in progress over its veracity,” he said.

He has not been able to confirm through the town whether the meter has been recycled. Township officials did not immediately return calls regarding the status of the meter.

“Once the town verifies that the meter was recycled, I'm going to have to litigate this and leave it up to a jury to decided whether its possible that someone could have gone from $115 to $10,000 in one quarter in the absence of any leakage,” said Damian.

“Whenever you sue a municipality, there is a law in NJ that says you have to put them on notice called the Tort Claims Notice Act and we would be alleging negligence,” he said. “I will be sending that notice in the very near future.”