A water bill of $100 for a

single family home would be considered pretty high, so how about more

than $1,000.

That's what Glenn Rickerson

got in the mail recently, a combined water/sewer bill for $1,038, showing

that 222,000 gallons of water had passed through his meter. His normal

bill runs between $30 and $40.

The sewer bill, which is based

on the water usage, accounted for $406 of the total.

Rickerson was in luck. The

Fayette County Water System has a special fund set aside for unusual cases

like his. Using a predetermined formula, the system pays up to several

hundred dollars when water usage for a given customer shoots way out of

sight.

In Rickerson's case, the formula

left him paying only $137. He attended a recent meeting of the county

Water Committee to ask for still more consideration.

"I'm hoping for a further compromise

between the $137 and my [normal usage]," he told the committee.

But committee members decided

to stick with the formula. "The only thing we can do is ... make sure

the meter is correct," said committee Chairman Chuck Watkins. "Everybody

is comfortable we did all we can."

As to why the unusual bill

occurred, that's anybody's guess, said system director Tony Parrott. "I

honestly don't know what happened," he said.

Mysteriously, Rickerson's bill

went back to normal the next month with no action by the Water System,

he said.

Thus far in 2001, the system

has dipped into its special fund ten times, forgiving anywhere from $178

to $500 of customers' bills, according to records. In some cases, customers

were still left paying several hundred dollars, he said.

"We're trying to handle all

of them equally," he said.

The Board of Commissioners

approved establishment of the fund in 1999, an unusual move, Parrott said.

"There are a lot of places that don't have a water adjustment fund and

the people just have to pay it," he said.

"It's part of an effort to

be more customer-friendly," he said.