The D.C. Water and Sewer Authority is proposing to triple the fee it bills the District government to maintain public fire hydrants, while warning that hydrant repair services could be curtailed if D.C. doesn’t agree to pay.
The WASA Board of Directors earlier this month took initial steps to raise the annual Fire Protection Service Fee, a levy paid by the District, from $217 to $680.48 per fire hydrant. There are 9,000 public hydrants, bringing WASA’s total yearly take to $6.1 million, whereas the agency currently collects $1.95 million.
The additional $4.1 million would fund WASA’s expanded hydrant maintenance program, which was implemented in 2007 following a pair of high-profile blazes. Firefighters faced out-of-service hydrants and low water pressure as they struggled to contain fires that destroyed the Georgetown Neighborhood Library and an Adams Mill Road apartment building.
Hydrant repair
» WASA “shall strive” to repair an out-of-service hydrant within five business days or replace it with 10 days
» WASA wants to install 540 new hydrants per year
» About 80 hydrants are currently out of service
WASA has spent $32 million over three years to repair 14,872 hydrants and replace 3,269, George Hawkins, D.C. WASA general manager, told The Examiner. What the D.C. government has paid for this “fee for service,” he said, is “obviously not enough.” “So we have been spending a lot more money per hydrant for several years now without the fee going up,” Hawkins said. “We debt-financed that work.”
The proposed charge is the “high end,” Hawkins said. Negotiations are ongoing with the District, and the revision must still endure a lengthy public comment process.
“We could decide to charge less,” he said. “Then we would do less.”
How the District will pay the difference is unclear. D.C. coffers are dry.
“I am very committed to ensure our hydrants are working properly, that’s the starting point on this,” said Ward 1 D.C. Councilman Jim Graham, who has oversight of WASA. “We’re going to examine the numbers, you can be sure of that.”
Calls and e-mails to the Fenty administration for comment were not returned.
D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services performs semiannual hydrant inspections, while WASA repairs or replaces those that are damaged and flow-tests each hydrant for water pressure.
