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A water fight between a homeowner and the City of Houston could have you double-checking your bill.

One man got a water bill for more than $1,400. After talking with Public Works, 11 News it could happen to anyone.

Everyone knows that to keep your lawn green, you have to spend green.

But how much is too much for your water bill?

KHOU-TV

As many as 20 percent of the city's electronic water meters may not be reading right for your water bill.

Carroll Shanks from Kingwood said he uses about as much water as the next guy, so you can imagine his surprise when he got a letter in the mail that began, “Dear Sir or Madam, due to an inadvertent reading of your water meter you now owe $1,486.”

It was a sort of catch-up bill to pay for his water consumption over the last 2.5 years.

The problem is that the city’s electronic water meter wasn’t tracking his usage and although he continued to be billed, it was only for a minimum amount.

It turns out he may not be the only one slapped with a large water bill. 

11 News found over 100,000 water meters were not being read accurately or sometimes not being read at all.

“I’ve been hearing from a lot of constituents,” said Councilmember Addie Wiseman.

She said she’s been hearing the same water troubles over and over again.

“It does not sound right that the city is making an error to put a financial burden on a constituent like that,” she said.

The city readily admits of the close to 500,000 electronic water meters more than 20% aren’t working.

“Now normally what we do is read them manually or at least use historical data and in this instance it fell through the cracks and we weren’t able to do that,” said Gary Norman, with Public Works.

Shanks believes that’s just bad business.

“I’m not contesting the fact that water flowed thru that meter.”

The issue is they installed a faulty product,” Shanks said.

That faulty product leaves Shanks footing the bill.

A city ordinance allows it to backtrack up to two years and charge if the consumer was underbilled. Make sure your bill is in order by checking it and making sure the charges and water used seem in line.

If you have any questions, call City of Houston Public Works at 713-371-1400.