Whatever
Happened To...
An update on past news
Doctoring water meters led
to an employee’s suspensionQuestion: What ever happened to an investigation into the Board of Water Supply employees who allegedly doctored their meters to show less water used?
Answer: One employee was temporarily suspended in the wake of a water fraud investigation completed by the Honolulu Water Supply Board last year, according to the agency Chief of Staff Kathy Matayoshi.
Allegations of possible meter tampering surfaced in 2001 when Water Manager Clifford Jamile mailed letters to his employees informing them that some of the agency's workers "may be tampering with their personal residential water meters to alter readings and reduce their bills."
The letter was intended to get anyone abusing the system to stop, Jamile told the Star-Bulletin at the time.
Up to 40 of the Water Supply Board's employees were originally believed to have rigged their water meters in order to get cheaper rates.
The accounts of some employees under question had bimonthly billings based on less than 8,000 gallons of water use, which would amount to a bill of less than $20.
The typical Oahu family uses between 12,000 and 20,000 gallons per pay period, which computes to between $25 and $40.
But Matayoshi said all but one employee were cleared by the investigation.
She could not say how long the worker found by the board to have doctored a water meter was suspended.
To guard against future tampering, the Water Supply Board has instituted a new computer system that notifies representatives if a bill looks "abnormally high or low," Matayoshi said.
The program also has tougher access controls than previously, restricting customers from viewing or changing their own bills, she said. The water irregularities identified in 2001 were identified during a test of the system.
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