District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority

Testimony as prepared for delivery

Introduction

Good afternoon, Chairperson Wells and members of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation. My name is George Hawkins, and I am general manager of the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority - now known throughout the District as DC Water.

In my prior capacity at the District Department of the Environment, you and I worked together on implementation of the five-cent bag fee. Now, DC Water is about to spend the most money of any District agency toward protecting our waterways in the next ten years. Given your interest, and your constituents' interest, in this area, the prospect of working together again is an exciting one.

Mr. Chairman, as a longtime elected official and District resident, you're also one of our customers and very familiar with our work. You've also received a copy of our Fiscal Year 2010 Annual Report last month, as required by the Authority's enabling legislation. Nonetheless, for the sake of those in attendance and watching at home, I would like to offer a brief summary of our agency's operations and initiatives.

Simply put, I am part of a team responsible for delivering a service to a group of people that numbers in the millions. And it is a service without which those millions of people cannot live.

Who we are

Since the days of its inception in 1996, DC Water has existed as an independent instrumentality of the District Government. We are governed by a Board of Directors with 11 principal members and 11 alternates. The entire board, including the chairman, is appointed by the Mayor of the District of Columbia. The suburban board members, 5 principals and 5 alternates, are appointed based on the recommendation of the chief executives of the jurisdictions they serve. These suburban members do not vote on issues that exclusively affect the District.

The big picture

The following, in no particular order are the top strategic priorities for DC Water -- as determined by the Board and management team. I will describe some of these in more detail shortly, and would be happy to answer questions about any of them.

1. Aging infrastructure
2. Regulatory compliance
3. Financial stability
4. Environmental stewardship
5. Safety culture
6. Internal change
7. External communication

Operations and infrastructure

DC Water purchases treated drinking water at wholesale from our federal partner, the Washington Aqueduct, which is a unit of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. We then deliver this water through our pumping stations and pipes to our retail customers in the District of Columbia.

Our water infrastructure encompasses more than 1,300 miles of water pipes; 36,000 valves; five pump stations; five reservoirs; four storage tanks; and more than 9,100 public fire hydrants. Once that water is used, it travels through 1,800 miles of sewer lines, nine wastewater and 16 stormwater pumping stations. The destination is the world's largest advanced wastewater treatment plant, at Blue Plains, which we operate for the benefit of our customers in the District and several suburban jurisdictions.

Blue Plains occupies 153 acres at the southern tip of the District of Columbia, on the shores of the Potomac River. The job of this facility is to take an RFK Stadium-sized volume of wastewater on an average day; treat it; and return it to the Potomac River just one disinfection step short of being clean enough to drink. It is the District's original and largest recycling facility.

The operation of these enormous systems is supported by more than five hundred vehicles, a thousand dedicated full-time employees, and several hundred contractors.

Finances

DC Water ended Fiscal Year 2010 with revenues exceeding expenditures. Our operating expenditures totaled $355.3 million, or approximately 93 percent of budget. DC Water received its 14th unqualified audit opinion of financial statements. Fiscal Year 2011, already underway, is on track for similar performance.

Our proposed operating budget for Fiscal Year 2012, which begins in October, is $422.3 million. This represents a $19-million increase over Fiscal Year 2011, most of which comes from increased costs in debt service.

Our capital improvement plan calls for spending of $3.8 billion over the next 10 years, the bulk to projects covered under environmental mandates or designed to avert calamity. These include our long-term control plan, now called the Clean Rivers Project, which will nearly eliminate the number of combined-sewer overflows into the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers and Rock Creek. We break ground on the first tunnel this spring, along with our new digester. This project will turn waste into fuel, making DC Water the largest generator of renewable electricity in the metropolitan area. This project will generate enough energy to power 26,000 homes.

The Enhanced Nutrient Removal program will cost nearly a billion dollars, and will help us meet our newest federal permit requirements for nitrogen to protect the Chesapeake Bay.

The remaining capital spending goes to water and sewer infrastructure. This will allow us to replace our water mains - the median age of which is 77 years old. Some pipes in the District went into the ground before the Civil War.

The Board proposed this budget in February. Following a lengthy public input process that ends with a public hearing May 11, the Board will vote on our rates in September, and they will become effective in October.

Reaching Out to Our Customers

Last June, we took the unusual step of choosing a new logo and a new name - DC Water - to better illustrate what we do to our customers. But this is far from a simple cosmetic change. Instead, DC Water is now a more visible and approachable utility. Our customers are seeing us and hearing from us more often, and not just when problems arise. This is crucial to rebuilding the public trust.

For our customers to trust us, they also need to be able to reach us. Our 24-hour call center answers more than 10,000 calls a month - the majority in 45 seconds or less. We have redesigned our website, and our social media efforts now include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and LinkedIn.

This year, we will again answer public questions about our rates, water quality, infrastructure, customer bills, and how to get a job at DC Water at our series of town hall meetings in every ward. These meetings begin March 8 in Ward 3 and are co-hosted with the ward councilmembers. (The Ward 6 meeting is March 17.) We also plan to meet with business groups about the upcoming rates.

Conclusion

I began this job about 16 months ago, and every day I learn more about the challenges our utility and all utilities face. We have an extraordinarily large and complex system, and one that is very old. We measure our success by how well we repair and replace our infrastructure to avoid unplanned service outages, how well we respond when systems do break down, and how we keep our customers informed every step of the way. I could not do this work without the talents of the 1,000-strong workforce I call "Team Blue," several of whom have joined me here today.

In closing, I would also like to congratulate you on becoming the chairperson of this committee. As you know from our past work together, you and I share a vision of how livable, walkable cities can contribute immeasurably to quality of life for their residents. My agency and I stand ready to support that vision in any way you see fit.

This concludes my prepared remarks. I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify, I have submitted written responses to your list of questions, and I look forward to answering any additional questions you or the other committee members may have.