Homeowner: Donor shouldn't have paid water bill

[April 21, 2009]  OGDEN, Utah (AP) -- A homeowner said an anonymous donor should not have paid his water bill.

Don Ekstrom said he still disputes the $560 bill for water used in two months. "Now they have gotten someone else to pay them who doesn't owe them, either," he said. The paralyzed veteran said there's no way he could have used 300,000 gallons of water in January and February.

Ekstrom said he left the house unoccupied then, and didn't move in until March.

Ogden officials said it must have been a running toilet or undetected leak or some problem that has corrected itself.

The city was unsympathetic. It planned to shut off Ekstrom's water for nonpayment on Friday until somebody called the water department to pay the bill by credit card.

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Information from: Standard-Examiner, http://www.standard.net/

[Associated Press]

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