A few years ago, my husband and I went to visit his family at Christmas. What we didn’t realize was that, just before we left, a toilet that got flushed did not stop running. We returned four days later to find it running, immediately turned it off, and gritted our teeth when the very large water bill arrived the next month. One thing we were grateful for, however, was the fact that there was a note attached to our door from the local water department, letting us know that water had been running in our house for (at that point) two days straight, and that we should check to see where the leak was.
These people would probably have appreciated a note like that. In the end, they will be on the hook for over $4,000 in extra costs, and it appears the City of Toronto will not allow them to pay in instalments to ease their burden.