PARKER, Colo. -- Last summer, Parker homeowner Jim Tuson let his lawn go brown, and a tree die, because his water bills were outrageously high.

"I think the dog's going to die of thirst. I don't know where else to cut," said Tuson.

Nothing he did to conserve water lowered the bills.

"We just assumed it was us. We were just wasting too much water," Tuson said.

As it turns out, a technician from the Parker Water District installed the wrong meter on Tuson's home.

"The meter read double what he had actually used and he was billed for that and he paid it," said Frank Jaeger, the district manager of the Parker Water and Sanitation District.

Jaeger admits Tuson isn't the only customer who's overpaid.

"It's been three that we're aware of, but that's not to say there are some other meters we're not aware of that could be improperly installed," Jaeger said.

But the bottom line is that the only homeowners getting refunds are the ones catching the error on their own.

"I took a five-gallon bucket of water and filled it up and sure enough, the meter clicked off 20 gallons, and we knew what the problem was," Tuson said.

Tuson was overcharged 950,000 gallons of water -- nearly a million gallons of water he never used.

"And we got a refund of $2,914 ," he said.

With the money in hand and some peace of mind, Tuson plans to have a green lawn this summer, and he won't have to worry about his dog going thirsty.

So how do you know if you have the wrong meter installed on your home?

A single family home in Parker should have a meter with the model number "25" on it. Any other number on the meter and you too could be getting overcharged.

To find out more, contact the Parker Water District at (303) 841-4627 or through PWSD.org.