Woman says stress making her sick in fight with city over $233,000 water bill for vacant home with no plumbing
A Chicago woman said stress is making her sick after months of fighting City Hall over a $233,000 water bill for a vacant house that doesn't even have plumbing. Her alderman is trying to get the city to wipe out that bill.
Diane Carli's late husband's childhood home in the Back of the Yards neighborhood has sat empty for decades, with no plumbing, but in 2024 the city contacted her, telling her the water meter needed to be replaced.
"I didn't want them to touch it, but they said it was mandatory," she said.
After installing the meter, the city has hit her with a water bill for more than $233,000.
"I said, this is crazy," she said.
Carli first talked to CBS News Chicago about her bill in August 2025.
"I've never in my lifetime seen a bill like that," she said.
For years, CBS News Chicago has uncovered countless water bills of people who all got hosed for water they never used, and the problem continues.
"Channel 2 did a segment, I believe, called Getting Hosed, and it shows all the other meters they have zeroed out because there's been issues with the meter. It was reading 500,000 gallons a month and it went down to zero when they changed the meter out," said Carli's daughter, Dena.
Once the city came to replace the new meter it had installed with a second one, the vacant property registered at zero gallons per month, but Carli's $233,000 water bill was not rolled back to zero.
The stress has taken a toll on the 83-year-old.
"It's tearing me down and tearing them down. You work so hard," she said.
The penalties keep jumping each month, and the city has been threatening to garnish her pension.
Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) has been working hard to Carli's bill eliminated.
"They don't want to admit that we have a problem with billing in the city of Chicago," Lopez said.
Lopez said, despite Carli testifying about her bill in front of various City Council committees, the water bill continues to hang over the family. The alderman said the city's comptroller agreed last October to eliminate the debt, yet it hasn't happened yet.
"We were giving them the benefit of the doubt, since everyone agreed with us. And now here we are six months later, and multiple sources say to me, privately, that there's only one entity holding us back, and he resides on the 5th floor," Lopez said, referring to Mayor Brandon Johnson.
The mayor's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Carli plans to be back at City Hall next week to speak to City Council Budget Committee again about her bill. She's hoping it will be her last time.
