- Home
- :
- District Residents Faced With Increasing Water Bills
News
Washington, DC
District residents will see their water bills more than double over the next six years in an effort to pay for a massive tunnel project aimed at stopping sewage from overflowing into the Anacostia and Potomac rivers. Much of the increase is due to a dedicated tax to pay for a $2.6 billion tunnel that will run 13 miles from Northeast Washington, under the Anacostia, and end at D.C.'s Blue Plains treatment facility on the Potomac. The tax was implemented in 2009, but as construction ramps up, the average annual tax of $41.40 per household will increase to more than $345 by 2019, according to a recently released Brookings Institution report. Meanwhile, water bills are projected to increase from an average $576 per year to $1,248 per year for District residents.
|
Bills, bills, bills |
||||
|
Average monthly charge for: |
2009 |
2011 |
2019 |
10-yr change |
|
D.C. water retail rate |
$37.53 |
$46.09 |
$70.45 |
88% |
|
Impervious Area Charge* |
$1.24 |
$3.45 |
$28.77 |
2,220% |
|
Metering fee |
$2.01 |
$3.86 |
$3.86 |
92% |
|
* dedicated tax for tunnel project |
||||
|
Source: Brookings Institution |
||||
The tunnel project, which will collect sewage and other runoff that now overflows into the surrounding waterways during rainstorms, isn't slated to wrap up until 2025. The District is locked into the project, which is federally mandated by a 2005 consent decree to reduce sewer overflows.
Federal help with the project has been unpredictable, as funding went from $20 million in 2010 to $11.5 million this year.
