By AP/KWMU
Mascoutah, Ill. – A woman in Mascoutah, Ill. got a $74,000 water bill last month.
A broken water meter at Rose Mary Cook's house caused the city to think she had used 10 million gallons. She was charged $30,000 for water, $43,000 for sewer, and $900 in taxes.
Cook says she could have filled every swimming pool in southern Illinois and still not used that much water.
She took the bill to a public works employee, who quickly found the problem wtih the water meter. The city has since fixed the mistake and even waived some charges for Cook. Her new bill comes to just $32.66.