As DC Water replaces lead pipes, some residents are facing damage bills – NBC4 Washington

There is a major effort underway in the District of Columbia to replace dangerous lead pipes. But not all of the replacement work has gone smoothly — and some residents tell the News4 I-Team they’ve been left with costly repair bills they don’t think they should pay. .

Since DC Water launched its DC Lead Free Initiative in 2019, 7,000 new communication lines were installed. The goal is to replace another 35,000 service lines by 2037.

Michael and Brooke Taylor are proud of the work they did in renovating their basement apartment in southeast DC.

“It’s a small place – very small – but it’s built just for us,” Michael Taylor said.

In February, the couple returned home from a trip to find the entire apartment a flooded mess. They said this happened after their homeowner agreed to let DC Water replace the lead pipes leading to the house while they were away. At first they didn’t know where to turn.

“Doing research, trying to figure out who should I call? Who should I talk to? How do I file a claim? Brooke Taylor remembered asking.

She said a DC Water contractor came back and fixed the burst pipe, but later that day, she said, another leak flooded the bathroom.

The video they provided shows wet floorboards and water pouring from a pipe onto the bathroom floor.

“So now it’s like damage on top of damage. And at that point, DC Water never came back. None of the DC Water employees have returned,” Brooke Taylor said.

The Taylors received estimates of damage to the apartment and their property totaling approximately $30,000. They filed a claim with DC Water’s insurance company, which began going back and forth for months to figure out who would pay for what. The insurer told them he suspected the flooding was due to a faulty plastic pipe on the sink.

“While this may have been a residual effect of increased water pressure due to replacing your water line, it does present a question of fact as to whether the subcontractor is liable for negligent workmanship,” the insurance company said.

Three months after the flood, the insurance company offered the Taylors $8,000, saying, “This offer was made as a courtesy for assistance with the cleanup and did not imply an admission of liability. “We have concluded that the contractors were not negligent in their actions and there is no evidence that they did anything wrong.”

The insurer later added: “Sometimes accidents occur without legal liability.”

Since DC Water’s lead pipe replacement project began in 2019, the utility has settled and paid out more than $320,000 in damage claims, according to the I-Team.

Southeast D.C. resident Andrew Interdonato said replacing a lead pipe caused costly damage to his home.

In November 2022, he agreed to replace the lead pipes in his 100-year-old home. Something went wrong after he said contractors plugged construction equipment into an outlet at his home instead of a generator, causing a power outage.

“The stove smelled like it was burning and there was smoke coming out,” Interdonato said.

Documents provided to the I-Team by Interdonato show DC Water agreed to pay to restore power but paid only half the cost of permanent repairs to the home’s electrical system, saying the needed repairs were not a direct result of the accident. the work was completed by the team.

“They decided to use my power. I suffered the consequences. And they just leave, and that’s not right,” he said.

“We are going to cure you”: how DC Water responded

DC Water said it could not comment on individual cases that are in the claims process. However, communications director Kirsten Williams said, “In each of these situations, we take it very seriously.”

Williams said the number of customer complaints related to lead pipe replacement is small compared to the size of the project, and that the number of questions and complaints has dropped from 5% to just 1% in the last financial year.

“If you look at the major transmission line replacements that are happening nationally, these are standard occurrences, especially when you look at the age and condition of some of the homes,” Williams said. “I would like to say to these customers that you have a responsibility to know that we are going to go through this claims process with you. We’re going to have our investigators come out and look into it, and we’re going to fix you if we made a mistake.”

When it comes to the frustration some DC Water customers are experiencing due to disputes over who is responsible for damages, Williams said, “You know, we go through the claims process, and that’s where we rely on our partners who are in insurance business.”

What does the advocate say DC Water needs to change?

There’s plenty of room for improvement, said Paul Schwartz, co-founder of the Campaign for Lead-Free Water, a nonprofit that advocates for safe drinking water.

“We need DC Water and its customer service professionals to be better trained and supported to address the real challenges people face in our communities,” he said.

Schwartz said DC Water’s program must improve customer relations, starting with making sure homeowners know their rights and what they may be responsible for before allowing work to be done on lead service lines.

“The contract that is now being presented to the people is clearly written by lawyers, by people who have a hard time understanding it, and it tries to shift responsibility and concern onto the public,” Schwartz said. “This script needs to be flipped.”

Williams responded: “We don’t want you to feel like you’re giving up your rights. We want you to understand why this is the case and it is good feedback for us to remove this from some of our customers. feel that the claims process may need some improvements.”

It’s unclear how the plan would be financed or whether any costs might be passed on to utility customers. News4’s Mark Segraves reports.

Williams said providing excellent service is important to DC Water.

“I want you to understand that we are working hard to ensure that incidents that occur are mitigated and do not happen again, and that you are our number one importance. Our customer is critical to us,” she said.

Neither the Taylors nor Interdonato agreed to a partial settlement of the claim, saying they were unwilling to sign the waiver required by the insurer.

“We are not looking for payouts – we are looking for normalcy. And when we realized that wasn’t going to happen, it was a gut punch to us, frankly,” Michael Taylor said.

Interdonato said he’s grateful for the new plumbing, which he said is working fine, but he’s still frustrated by the damage to his home.

“They are the ones who will get the credit if everything is done well, and they are the ones who should bear the blame for the problems that arise as a result of their own work,” he said.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the lead pipe replacement program, call the DC Water Customer Service Hotline at 202-787-4044 or email [email protected]. Residents can file complaints with the prosecutor’s office.

Reporting by Tracey Wilkins, producing by Rick Yarborough, filming and editing by Geoff Piper

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