Is this legal?

I have 2 duplexes in the same city. I live in one unit, the other 3 I rent out. Our local water utility refuses to put the water in any tenants name. They will send the bill to the tenant, but if the tenant doesn't pay it I have to. I have been left with so many water bills it's getting out of hand. When I rent the place it has to have water. But I hate getting stuck with the bills. I get notices that the water will be turned off, but the utility rarely follows through on this threat. The water is left on and I end up paying for it. Sometimes the bills are higher than my security deposit. It doesn't seem legal to me. I have to pay for the service, someone else uses it and I am forced to pay for it. And some of these bills are crazy high! If I raised the rent to cover the water, the rent would be too high to compete in my market. And it's illegal for me to turn off the water. What can I do?

Can you demand a prepayment of the water bill to get a lease? And do better credit checks on tenants.

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