DC Water is hosting a series of community meetings for residents to learn about proposed rates and fees for next year and share concerns, comments and ideas. In the new fiscal year, the Clean Rivers Impervious Area Charge (CRIAC) is 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 for the average home.
meetings are listed below. All meetings begin at 6:30 p.m.:
- Ward 6: Wednesday, June 5, at Kennedy Recreation Center (1401 7th St. NW)
- Ward 7: Thursday, June 6, at Deanwood Recreation Center (1350 49th St. NE)
- Ward 8: Monday, June 10, at Bald Eagle Recreation Center (185 Joliet St. SW)
The meetings are intended to provide customers with an opportunity to comment on new rates for the fiscal year that begins October 1. 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 s 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 customers using little or no water still had very high charges.
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 social media feeds on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram or through email via [email protected]
