Customers are complaining about rising water bills in Celina as the city cites over-watering and leaks as potential culprits.
For dozens in Celina, August was the most expensive month on record due to water usage so high it seemed inexplicable.
"Our bill this month was $450," resident Dawn Frentz said. "I thought the water in Celina must be laced with gold is what I thought."
Frentz said her bill placed her water usage 10,000 gallons higher than the month before, despite no additional watering on her end and a recent inspection that discovered no leaks.
"Two thousand people in one neighborhood do not spontaneously have broken sprinkler heads in one month," she said.
The city of Celina declined to speak to NBC 5 on camera, instead issuing a press release that said in part:
"As temperatures in the local area rise precipitously, so do the rates at which citizens begin to utilize the convenience of automatic sprinkler systems, which can often raise water bills."
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
The city said it discovered no "abnormalities" in its system, but planned to create a database of customer complaints.
Frentz and others said they didn't buy the city's explanation, and believed an additional audit of the system should be carried out.
"This many people with double and triple water bills is not a fluke, something is going on here," Frentz said.
