The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) invites all customers to attend a public hearing Wednesday, June 13, 2007 on a proposed 7.5 percent rate increase for water and sewer services in the District. The meeting is hosted by the Board’s Retail Rates Committee, which is comprised of only the District representatives on the WASA Board of Directors. The hearing is the best opportunity for the public to weigh in with their views on this decision before the District Board Members vote on the proposal in September. Wednesday’s public hearing begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, 777 North Capitol Street, NE (within walking distance of Union Station).

If approved, the combined water and sewer rate, effective October 1, 2007, would increase from $5.09 per hundred cubic feet (Ccf) to $5.47 per Ccf. In addition to this increase, the Right of Way/Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) fee paid to the District government will increase from $0.44 per Ccf to $0.47 per Ccf. If the proposal is approved, the typical residential customer bill would increase by approximately $3.42 a month, overall.

WASA’s Board of Directors makes every effort to keep rates as low as reasonably possible. Modest increases, however, are necessary to support a $2.2 billion capital improvement program to maintain and upgrade the city’s vital water and sewer system and to meet federally mandated water quality and environmental requirements. Among WASA’s capital investments are construction projects to replace the publicly-owned portion of lead service lines across the District and to continue a federally mandated program to reduce overflows from the District’s combined sewer system into local waterways.

Also at the hearing, WASA will illustrate the potential impact on water and sewer rates if the Board of Directors (1) suspended or modified its $400 million Lead Service Line Replacement Program and (2) reallocated and shared the cost of the District government PILOT fee among the wholesale customers outside the District (Currently, this is a District-only expense.)

“The Board of Directors does not ‘rubber stamp’ rate proposals by management,” WASA Board Chairman Robin B. Martin assured. “The rate proposal is carefully deliberated and decided by only the District of Columbia representatives on the Board, based on public feedback and on revenues needed to provide reliable and safe water services, sewer services and infrastructure,” explained Martin.