High Infrastructure Costs. After nearly a century of wear and tear, and after what the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority calls “historic underinvestment in district water and sewer infrastructure,”  the city’s aging water and sewer systems need expensive repairs and upgrades.

•    Overall. $6.2 billion lifetime budget for capital improvements and $3.1 billion capital improvement program for the water and sewer systems from 2007 to 2016

•    Water. $1 billion for the water service improvements, including lead service replace-ments, rehabilitation of pumping stations, eliminate dead ends, water main replacements and fire hydrant servicing

•    Wastewater. $2.3 billion capital plan to improve wastewater treatment
-    $800 million to comply with new wastewater permit, including new treatment facilities and underground storage tunnels to hold rainwater during storms
-    $2.2 billion for combined sewer overflow control plan to comply with EPA man-date and reduce combined sewer overflows by 96 percent

•    Federal funding. $106 million to date and $14 million proposed for 2009
-    $120 million federal contribution is only 5 percent of the $2.2 billion budget of the federally mandated wastewater project

Water and Sewer Rate Hikes. With such little federal support, the Water and Sewer Authority has hiked rates over the last several years to pay for capital improvements, and it plans even greater increases in near future.

•    5 percent increase in 2006

•    5.5 percent increase in 2007

•    8.5 percent increase proposed for Oct. 1, 2008
-    $4.24 a month increase, raising the typical household bill to $55.48 a month
-    This is the largest increase in about a decade

•    12 percent a year increases are in store for 2009 and 2010

Water Quality Concerns.
•    Lead in Drinking Water.
-    In 2004, one in every three homes had lead in their drinking water at levels above the legal limit; children younger than 6 were tested for lead, and hundreds had blood lead levels at least 47 percent higher than the national average
-    About 8 percent of D.C. young children have elevated lead levels -- that’s four times the national average. Low-income children are at the highest risk for lead poisoning.

•    Pipe Replacement program. The city spent $93 million to replace 35,000 lead pipes.
-    Unfortunately, the project actually increased lead levels for as many as 9,000 house-holds because cutting the pipeline put lead shavings into the water
-    Right after replacing the pipelines, the households’ tap water had lead levels 17 times its federal legal limit; a month or two later, lead levels were still twice the legal limit.
-    Many local residents are concerned that the water and sewer authority concealed health information from the public

•    Nitrogen in Wastewater.
-    EPA ordered reduction in nitrogen discharges from its sewer plant on the Potomac River; 5 to 10 year timeline to comply with new permit