Me$$ing with water works

The city is trying to hose homeowners by changing the water-usage database — making it more difficult to challenge overcharges, according to landlords who are suing to stop the modification. The city’s Department of Environmental Protection quietly made plans over the summer to switch the online public portal that tracks a property’s water consumption so that it provides only a one-year overview instead of a decade-long breakdown.

New York Water Management — an industry group representing thousands of property owners — sued earlier this month and won a temporary reprieve from the change, which was supposed to go into effect on Sept. 13.

DEP Commissioner Vincent Sapienza said in a Sept. 9 letter to two City Council members that the new system is the result of a “major technological platform upgrade.” Sapienza added that he has since modified the system to allow people to search for five years of billing history.

But opponents say that accommodation doesn’t go far enough.

“What happened to open, transparent government?” asked attorney Domenic Recchia Jr., a former city councilman who is representing the landlords.

Councilman Justin Brannan (DBrooklyn) said “residents should continue to have full access to their waterbill records so we can be as open and transparent as possible.”

“I intend on introducing legislation if the city does not right this wrong,” Brannan said.

A city Law Department spokesman said, “This lawsuit has no merit and we’ll defend the agency’s decision in court.”

The parties are due in Brooklyn Supreme Court Wednesday.