Hawkins is general manager of the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority, which is taking part in Fix a Leak Week this week.
What is Fix a Leak Week?
Fix a Leak Week is an EPA national program in the WaterSense program that we’re participating in here in the District. To give you a sense of the scale, each year, because of leaks in the water system, we lose over a trillion gallons of water nationwide. We charge by how much water a customer uses. If a customer finds a leak and repairs it, not only are they using less water, they’re saving our customers money.
Is this the first Fix a Leak Week that D.C. has participated in?
It’s two years now running that we’ve participated. We’re just trying to ramp up our participation because this is such a good one with a lot of benefits.
Why did D.C. decide to participate?
We decided [to do it] because we felt it was the right step to do for the environment, for our customers and it’s an economically smart thing to do. It’s good any time, but in a recession where people are feeling a pinch, these are reasonably simple steps that people can do to save money and protect the environment.
George Hawkins
Participation is just attention. We’re releasing tips each day. This is all accessible if you go to our Web site, dcwater.com. From there you can link over to our Facebook page, and we’re sending our recommendations over Twitter. We have [an event] at the Ward 1 Senior Wellness Center [from] 10 a.m. to noon on March 18 at the Congress Heights Senior Wellness Center. We have [a] demonstration … where we actually show how you can change and reduce water usage in a faucet and how you can fix a toilet. – Erica Redmond
