A little hose that leads from Leslie Schofield's home to her hydraulic boatlift has drained her of more than a little money. The hose broke, fell into Lake Washington, and silently sent water gushing into the lake.

"It ran needlessly for a whole month," said Schofield. "I had no idea because I couldn't hear it in the house."

When an unusually high water bill of $470 alerted her to a problem, she says she found and fixed it that day. But by the time that bill arrived, it was month into the next billing cycle. That left her unprepared for the next bill, which topped $10,000.

"I cried," she said. "In fact, it starts to make me cry now when I think about it."

The statement shows an extreme jump in her usage. She thinks a meter reader should have noticed it and flagged it so she could have fixed the problem before it racked up the huge bill.

But the utility department says the bulk of the damage happened after the last meter check, and Schofield must pay.

"It's no different as far as the customer is concerned than someone who has a leaky toilet or a malfunctioning dishwasher," said Nav Otal with Bellevue Utilities. "It's the size and the magnitude of the bill -- and we totally sympathize with that -- but we have a policy that we want to apply consistently to all customers."

Schofield has taken her case to the Bellevue City Council. She's asking to pay only the wholesale price, which would be roughly half.