A Japanese school has been hit with a water bill for HK$210,000! It came after a teacher in charge of the swimming pool left a tap on for months, hoping to stop the coronavirus.
The teacher thought a constant flow of fresh water into the pool would keep it free of Covid. They left the tap on from late June to early September.
Normally, chlorine and filtering machines keep the pool water clean. "But the teacher somehow got the wrong idea that pouring new water in would also do the trick and even help prevent Covid," says an official called Akira Kojiri.
Other staff members sometimes noticed the running tap and switched it off, but the teacher soon switched it back on.
As a result, about 4,000 tonnes of water was used in just over two months – enough to fill the pool 11 times over.
Local authorities in Yokosuka in central Japan are now asking the teacher and two supervisors to pay half of the huge water bill.
"We deeply apologise to our residents for causing financial damage to our city," the authorities said.
