Outrageous water bill ($12,000)

Don’t know if this is the right place to post this but I’ve gone through all avenues and this seems to be the last place i can maybe find some hope.

I have 2 room mates (3 including myself), and had such a bad water leak (9/1-9/8) that there was no water pressure in our house. Our land lord did not get someone out for 7-8 days, and water was free flowing in the street. And now we have amounted to a $12,000 water bill.

Me and my room mates are by no means rich, and simply will not pay for water that we did not use. The city of Houston’s water department has proven to us to be about as incompetent as can be at this point, and we may have to look for legal representation/a fair water adjustment. Is there anyone that can help with this?