Photo by Samer FarhaBack in April, the regional Environmental Protection Agency coordinator for the U.S. Department of Defense sent a letter to D.C. Water complaining about their bill. The letter identified a charge that the Department of Defense doesn’t want to pay: the impervious surface area charge, which pays for the maintenance of storm sewers that collect rainwater runoff. The Government Accountability Office backed up DOD: The entire federal government wants out of this charge.
If the federal government stops paying its part for storm sewer maintenance, who do you bet will pick up the bill? That’s right: District residents.
Federal government office buildings account for roughly 20% of the impervious area in the District, says D.C. Water general manager George Hawkins. All of those flat roofs whose services are impenetrable create a great deal of rainwater runoff. That rainwater finds its way into storm sewers, and the water company takes care of the rest. D.C. Water arrived at the utterly sensible conclusion that the costs associated with protecting storm sewers from the wear of rainwater should be allocated based on how much rainwater runoff a given property creates.
