VNL Whistleblower thanks anonymous donor who paid $2,500 water bill

WEST FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - Nyondon Blay of West Fargo wants to thank the person who anonymously donated nearly $2,500 to pay off his water bill.

On Valley News Live @ 6:00 Monday night, Blay urged homeowners to pay close attention to their water meters, after a leak in his home racked up his water bill to nearly $2,500.

Blay has only lived in his home near Brooks Harbor Elementary for three months. Blay says his October bill was $56, November was $156 and December was just pennies short of $2,500. Blay adds the December bill showed his household of three people used 280,000 gallons of water.

“That’s a lot of money. That’s more than our mortgage. If this happens again one or two times, we might have to move. Maybe even this time we might have to think about moving because we can’t afford to pay $2,500 in water bills,” he said.

Blay says the City of West Fargo found his meter showed there was some sort of water leak for around eight days in December before the problem fixed itself, which is something city officials say happens more often than you’d think.

“For example, if it’s something like a toilet flap that is leaking and they happen to use that and it resets it would stop,” Jim Larson, West Fargo’s Finance Director said. Larson says most leaks are caused by a toilet or water softener.

After the whistleblower story ran, Blay says the City of West Fargo called to let him know that someone privately made a payment on his behalf, paying the balance down to zero.

Blay says he just wants to thank the person who made the payment.

You can watch the original story here.