Miami – Monique Jenkins was stunned when her water bill covering a three-month period in 2024, was $857, a $723 increase from her original fee of $127.

The Coconut Grove resident thought the Miami-Dade County Water and Sewer Department erred by sending her the wrong bill, but the meter was accurate.

The department told her a water leak inside or outside her home may have driven up her fee, and suggested repairing it because it could get worse if left unattended.

On top of paying her high water bill, she had to use her savings "to pay the plumber almost $700," said Jenkins, 66, who lives on a fixed income. "I was saving the money for an emergency but I had to do something or my next water bill could’ve been higher."

Like Jenkins, scores of Miami-Dade residents are faced with bills ranging as high as $2,000 because of undetected water leaks, according to the county Department of Water and Sewer.

The department has been flooded with phone calls from residents complaining about the surge in fees in 2023 and 2024.

The costly bills impact both affluent and low-income neighborhoods such as Jenkins’ Black West Grove area also known as Little Bahamas.

Residents in impoverished vicinities, however, more likely lack the resources to hire a plumber or leak detection company.

The county now has designed a pilot program to help at no cost, installing innovative technology to detect and prevent water leaks.

Miami-Dade County Commissioners Raquel Regalado and Roberto Gonzalez have launched a partnership with Moen, a technology company that created the water leak device, and Rebuilding Together Miami-Dade Inc., a leading national nonprofit organization which provides free critical repair to homeowners in need.

Moen will install the device and monitor the homes for possible leaks as part of an experiment first to be conducted in homes in Regalado’s District 7, which includes Black West Coconut Grove, and District 11, represented by Gonzalez, which covers the areas of Country Walk, the Hammocks, Kendale Lakes and West Kendall.

If successful, the program may expand to other areas including low-income communities.

Regalado said the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that American families waste nearly a trillion gallons of water each year due to preventable leaks that can range from small drips to catastrophic floods.

Each year, he said, insurance companies pay out $15 billion to customers as a result of water damage with a significant amount tied to leaks.

The demonstration project will evaluate the impact of placing a Flo Smart Water monitor and shutoff devices along the main water line in single-family residential homes by observing water flow and water bill cost over a four-month period.

Moen Senior Vice President Jeff Barnes said the device constantly monitors the pressure and flow rate of water moving through pipes and can detect leaks as small as a drop a minute. Placed on private property, the device will notify the homeowner or automatically shut off the water to prevent future damage.

Amanda Maldonado, a public information office for Miami-Dade County, said older homes are prone to water leaks.

The first homes for the program will be in the West Grove area," she said. "It’s a really cool program which saves homeowners a lot of money on their increasing water bills and having to pay someone to fix their leaks."

Clarice Cooper, president of the Coconut Grove Village West Homeowners and Tenants Association, said she welcomes the program especially after her own personal experience with a water leak.

Cooper, who has lived in West Black Grove for over 60 years, said one of her bills was $700 due to a leak and she spent $800 on plumbing services.

"That was the big problem last year, water coming out inside and outside the property," she said. "I needed two different plumbers to fix it."