Reply to Gouged by the DC government for...drinking water?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DC Water bills increased quite a lot (tripled?) about two years ago due to DC Water's Clean River Project.  Basically, our sewers have stayed the same since colonial times and they are now being rebuilt.  We are footing the bill.  I has to be done.  No getting around it.
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This is the correct answer. We're paying the tab for a new sewer system.[/quote]

Except the federal government is covering most of the cost.[/quote]

Nope - in fact the Federal Government is paying none of the cost of fixing the CSO system in DC except for what they pay in water bills.

And that capital improvement project started 15 years ago.

The CSO repairs FWIW were required by a Federal Court order enforcing the Chesapeake Compact to clean up the Chesapeake Bay - DC is actually going to be first "state" in the watershed to get in compliance with the order which in the long run is going to save DC money - some of the other states (PA in particular) have been dragging their feet which has only increased the cost of compliance.

And the program has worked - the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers are dramatically cleaner in just 15 years to the point that dolphins and otters have returned and they are estimating that the Anacostia will be safe to swim in by around 2030 and safe to eat fish from by 2035.

And as I understand it the fees are not supposed to be permanent and expire when the bonds are paid off.

Having said that we don't trust the water consumption numbers from DC Water at all - I have a spread sheet of our water bills going back 20 years and despite installing low flow toilets and an energy efficient washer/dishwasher and having the same number of people in the house our consumption has almost doubled and we've also had some months with just wild spikes - our bill will go from $200 to $500 then back to $200 with no repairs made that ameliorated any leaks and two different plumbers have been unable to find any leaks.[/quote]

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