HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — When Lad De Leon learned about an elderly woman living in a wood-and-tin house with one working faucet facing a $36,000-plus water bill, he knew exactly what to do.
As a licensed plumber, De Leon said he would be checking the place and if he finds water leaks, he will repair them free of charge for the lone resident in the Yigo house, Stella N. Beloy, 85.
“It really, really broke my heart when I saw the (The Guam Daily Post) video because she’s so elderly and living in such a space. People reached out, too,” De Leon, owner of Pacific Backflow and Plumbing, said on Wednesday.
Beloy used to have a $28 to $29 water bill every month, which she regularly paid.
But her water bills suddenly spiked starting in December 2020, peaking at $10,491 in January 2021 and at more than $9,000 in February and March, before going down to $34.74 in April and then back to about $28 in May and June.
It went up again to $377.47 in August then to $96.54, before going back to the pre-spike billing of some $27 starting in September.
“If she has a leak in her house that’s causing that water bill to be so high, I will be more than glad to repair and fix it,” De Leon said, adding that he will be seeking help from the Yigo mayor as well.
Yigo Mayor Anthony Sanchez on Wednesday said he will be helping any way he can, including assisting others who want to also help Beloy.
GWA General Manager Miguel Bordallo said a review of the data log on the customer’s properly functioning meter confirmed continuous water usage from December 2020 to the middle of March 2021, at an average of over 1,000 gallons an hour.
He said GWA does not have the authority to conduct leak testing on private premises, nor do they have the authority to provide repair services on private plumbing.
For the leak detection and repair services, this is where De Leon said he can help. He has extensive experience in plumbing, water treatment, water distribution, as well as installation, repair and certifying backflows.
But at this point, GWA said it has not found facts to support that a credit should be issued to Beloy.
In short, GWA still expects Beloy to pay the $36,000-plus water bill. Beloy continues to pay some $28 a month to make sure her water does not get disconnected.
Beloy showed the lone water faucet that’s functioning in her place, located outside the house. From there, she uses a bucket to bring water inside.
Since her husband died in May 2020, she’s the only one living in the house and she’s using limited water, she said. Her son is working in Hawaii and her daughter is in California. Beloy only has a few relatives on the island.
Sen. Clynt Ridgell, who heads the legislative committee with oversight of utilities, said while more information may be needed, it seems like there are no water leaks in the elderly resident’s area because the water bill suddenly went up and then went down and up and down again.
“This makes no sense unless she fixed the leak,” the senator said.
Beloy did not have anything fixed in her water system, she said.
Yigo resident Stella N. Beloy, 85, shares her frustration after her latest Guam Waterworks Authority bill shows she owes $36,509.81 for water service to her house, which now has only one working faucet.
