Food, water, housing, healthcare. These are all things we need, as human beings, to stay alive every day. However, private companies withhold them, and charge monopoly prices, keeping us poor, cold, and hungry. A Georgia man who bought a house in foreclosure felt the sting of the water companies as they slapped him with a $71,000 bill for water he never used.
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After buying a property in Dekalb County, Georgia, Charles Holmes discovered he couldn't get the taps to turn on. After calling up the county, he discovered that the previous tenant had run up one hell of a bill. Despite not divulging the itemized bill, the new homeowner was told that he now owed $71,846 for water alone.
How anyone is able to run up that kind of amount of water is beyond me. The local farmers must have been feeding their crops from his pipes for years to bump the water bill that high. When he asked for a breakdown of the charges he was told that they couldn't give them to him. "You want me to pay it, but yet we can't discuss it," he told WSB-TV, "It makes absolutely no sense."
Not A Negotiable Water Bill
Despite not having used a drop of the water, the bill is attached to the house. Charles Holmes knew that picking up old residents' debts was always a part of buying a foreclosed property, but not to this degree. To rack up a bill of $71,846 the house will have been leaking water for years.
He has tried to negotiate the fee to something more reasonable, but the water companies are putting their foot down. When asked about the situation, a DeKalb county spokesperson said, "Water service will be turned on once the county has proof of completed repairs and there are no leaks." In this instance, Holmes will have to repair a leak before continuing to use water in his new home. He will also still have to foot the monstrous water bill.
Private companies own a lot of the resources human beings need in their day-to-day lives. Housing, food, water, power, and healthcare are all being controlled by large conglomerates that determine who can and cannot access vital resources. This allows them to cut off the necessities for living, such as the water to Holmes's home. Until he can pay his water bill, he will have to source water from elsewhere, wherever elsewhere is.
