RICHMOND, Va. -- A mother of five who has been living without water for a month at her Richmond apartment turned to the CBS 6 Problem Solvers for help.
"I can't live like this," Iquana Peck pleaded. "You can't live without water."
The frustrated mother said she felt like giving up after battling with the City of Richmond.
“I was giving up. I felt less than a mother,” Peck added.
Peck said she has been battling with the City of Richmond.
“They wouldn't do no kind of payment plan with me or anything. It was horrible,” said Peck.
Iquana Peck and her children.
Peck said the ordeal was horrible.
“We stayed in hotels, so that they could take baths. I went back and forth to the store to buy bottled water. So, that we can... they can be clean,” Peck said.
City Hall
This trouble started in February when Peck said she received a water bill for $526.
“I went right to City Hall and paid it and that was that. I thought it was over,” Peck said.
Then Peck said officials contacted her stating she owed $700 for water from a previous address where she lived three years ago.
Additionally, there was a mix up with her social security number, so she was not eligible for a payment plan.
Iquana Peck
That is when Peck contacted the CBS 6 Problem Solvers and WTVR CBS 6 reporter Sandra Jones reached out to Richmond's Department of Public Utilities.
A spokesperson said that a representative contacted Peck about that outstanding balance at that other address.
After further investigation, the spokesperson said Peck was eligible for a payment plan and that an accounts investigator would contact her to tell her what she needs to do to have her water service reconnected.
Later that evening, a technician came out to Peck's apartment and the family now has water again.
“The best sound in the world,” Peck said. "I'm so blessed. I'm so blessed and I'm grateful for y'all. I'm grateful."
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