DC Water Town Halls

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Information provided by DC Water

DC Water announced its schedule for town hall meetings in all 8 wards, outreach which provides customers an opportunity to learn about the water authority’s proposed rates and fees for next year while allowing the public to share concerns, comments, and ideas. The meetings are intended to provide customers with an opportunity to comment on new rates for the fiscal year that begins October 1. Ward 2’s town hall will take place on Tuesday, May 28, at Jelleff Recreation Center (3265 S Street NW).

The Clean Rivers program is currently funded entirely with the Clean Rivers Impervious Area Charge (CRIAC). Under the current proposal, a portion of the $2.7 billion Clean Rivers program will also be funded with the volumetric rate.

While rates and fees are changing, the average household increase will be about 5.7%, which was approved a year ago. However, large users of water, including apartment buildings, office buildings, and other buildings with higher usage may also see an increase in their bills. DC Water is pursuing this change because it will bring more equity to funding for the Clean Rivers program—both by allowing customers to control their charges by using less volume and also responding to complaints that some customer using little or no water still had very high charges.

All of the rates will be the subject of a DC Water Board of Directors public hearing on June 12 at 6:30 pm at 1385 Canal Street SE. The new element to the rate proposal is a shift to a partial volumetric system for calculating the Clean Rivers Impervious Area Charge, which covers the costs of building the Clean Rivers project. In the new fiscal year, CRIAC charges are projected to drop from an average of $23 per home to $20.94 per home, with increases in the sewer rate: from $7.75 to $8.89 per month on average homes. This is because about 18% of Clean Rivers costs will be funded from the sewer volumetric and the remainder will be funded with the CRIAC.

The public meetings will begin next week with a gathering in Ward 1 and run through mid-June when the final meeting is held in Ward 8. All meetings are being held at recreation and community centers in neighborhoods to facilitate participation.

As always, any customer can share their opinion with DC Water through the authority’s customer service line at (202) 354-3600, via our social media feeds on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or through email via Customer.Service@dcwater.com.

The full schedule of meetings, all of which begin at 6:30 pm, is below:

  • Ward 1 Public Information Session: Thursday, May 23, Columbia Heights Community Center-1480 Girard Street NW

  • Ward 2: Tuesday, May 28, Jelleff Recreation Center, 3265 S Street NW

  • Ward 3: Wednesday, May 29, Palisades Recreation Center and Playground, 5200 Sherier Place NW

  • Ward 4: Monday, June 3, Emery Heights Community Center, 5701 Georgia Avenue NW

  • Ward 5: Tuesday, June 4, Trinidad Recreation Center, 1310 Childress Street NE

  • Ward 6: Wednesday, June 5, Kennedy Recreation Center, 1401 7th Street NW

  • Ward 7: Thursday, June 6, Deanwood Recreation Center, 1350 49th Street NE

  • Ward 8: Monday, June 10, Bald Eagle Recreation Center, 185 Joliet Street SW