Witness Testimony

Good morning Mr. Chairman, I am Jerry N. Johnson, General Manager of the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority.

On behalf of the Authority, I would like to express our appreciation for the Subcommittee's interest in this matter.

Lead in drinking water is of serious interest and concern to the Board of Directors, to me, our managers and every employee of the Authority, as well as to consumers. It is also a matter that concerns policy-makers in federal, state and local government.

Although the responsibility is shared with the Army Corps of Engineers Washington Aqueduct and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), here in the nation's capital, the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority is accountable to our customers and to the public when it comes to ensuring that drinking water is safe.

Among our many obligations such as strong stewardship of the environment and responsible management of ratepayer resources, we take the obligation to distribute clean safe drinking water as our most important mission.

Command Center Update

I would like to provide the Committee a very brief update on our activities since February.

We have responded to 67,448 customer calls and e-mails since the beginning of February 2004.

As you may know, the sampling required by EPA under the Lead and Copper Rule was as low as 50 households and is now 200 households annually.

Our lead Command Center reports that we have received and distributed 36,909 water test kits, and nearly 20,000 test kits have been returned to us for analysis. We have analyzed and processed 18,683 customer water samples this year, and the first and second draw sample test results remain consistent across all pipe materials with respect to lead level concentrations.

As of July 21, we have distributed 38,276 water filters, and continue to provide these filters automatically to homeowner's who participate in the sampling program and whose test results exceed on the second draw the EPA action level of 15 ppb.

Audits and Investigations

There have been several reviews undertaken this year with the purpose, in whole or in part, of evaluating the Authority's performance under the Lead and Copper Rule.

This morning we are participating in our fourth Congressional hearing on this topic. The District of Columbia Council has held eleven hearings since February 2, 2004.

We have hosted nearly two-dozen meetings and participated in over two- dozen meetings hosted by community organizations. We have also taped two videos for broadcast on cable access television and participated biweekly news briefings in our effort to keep the public informed.

The Interagency Task Force Chaired by Mayor William's and Councilmember Carol Schwartz and the EPA audit have concluded.

Consent Order Summary

The EPA audit extended back to 1998, and was concluded with a consent order that included specific activities that were either planned or already underway.

Under the settlement agreement we have reached with EPA which our Board ratified, the Authority agreed to take steps, such as:

• Committing to submit timely reports to EPA and use required language in public education materials;
• Submitting plans to EPA for -

1. our public education program
2. encouraging homeowners to submit lead sample tests, particularly those who have had partial service line replacements
3. continuing our priority replacement program, and
4. encouraging private side replacements by homeowners;

• Replacing an additional 1,615 service lines in public space in the next two years.

This last item is the result of EPA's conclusion that had our former water quality manager interpreted the rules for submitting sample tests to EPA differently, and a small number of additional sample test results had been included in the period from 2000 to 2001, then the District would have exceeded the action level a year earlier.

In reaching a settlement agreement with EPA on the next phase of the Lead Services Program, we are very pleased to bring a very labor intensive and backward-looking review process to a close.

Board of Directors Resolution on Consent Order

The Authority's Board of Directors expressed some reservations because the consent order does not address the quality of federal oversight.

The Board supported this agreement because it believes that the agreement brings closure to past issues, and like the Community Water Pledge, it redirects the focus to the future.

However, the Board did express in the clearest terms its disappointment in the Environmental Protection Agency's failure to "conduct routine and basic oversight of the Authority from 1998 until the Compliance Audit commenced," on or about February 8, 2004.

The Board further noted that as a result:

• That the EPA failed to "provide timely notice of any deficiencies in the Authority's Lead and Copper Rule program, including its sampling program, public education program reporting forms and time frames for reporting;" and;
• "EPA had approved several of the matters deemed to be in noncompliance and for other areas of noncompliance WASA had sought and received guidance from the EPA and proceeded on a course of action with EPA's active consultation."

However, this agreement, which did not impose any financial penalties that would unfairly burden our ratepayers and ensured that the EPA's review would not be open-ended, serves the best interests of our customers and the general public.

Still underway are reviews by the District of Columbia Inspector General, and, as you know, the Government Accountability Office.

Holder Report

Most recently, On July 16, 2004, The Report to the Board of Directors on an Investigation conducted under the direction of Eric H. Holder, Jr., a partner with Covington and Burling and a former United States Assistant Attorney General, was released to the public.

It is the broadest comprehensive report, to date. It is critical of WASA's management, in some instances. However, it is also critical of other agencies involved in ensuring appropriate implementation of the Lead and Copper Rule.

This investigation was undertaken on behalf of WASA's independent Board of Directors. WASA's executive management and all staff cooperated fully with Mr. Holder by providing tens of thousands of pages of documents and thousands of e-mails. We sought to honor all requests for personal interviews, including a number not initially listed as part of the investigation. This was not the case with any of the other organizations involved.

I am continuing to digest the Report fully, but it seems generally consistent with my assessment of how WASA, the EPA, the Washington Aqueduct and the District of Columbia Department of Health each handled lead leaching from some homes' lead service lines, as well as some elements of our responsibility to communicate with the public.

Mr. Holder finds that WASA staff, principally, the WASA Water Quality Manager (Seema Bhat) and her supervisors made mistakes, and that they were not sufficiently supervised; and that WASA's management made decisions to downplay some lead monitoring-related issues in its public communications.

The Report, however, goes much further, specifically stating:

• WASA generally kept the EPA informed on many of the issues discussed below, but the EPA provided inconsistent responses and failed to raise significant concerns."
• "Other agencies involved in water quality issues - the EPA (and Department of Health) - had a muted response after learning of the exceedance.."
• The requirements of the LCR do not effectively ensure public awareness of the potential public health issues."

Summary of Information Provided to the Subcommittee

On March 15, 2004, the Subcommittee requested information on lead levels in the drinking water and the Authority's actions taken in response to exceeding the EPA action level.

As you know, Mr. Chairman, our responses were fairly lengthy, but I would like to briefly summarize them for the Subcommittee:

There was a very small annual lead service replacement program in the District that ranged from 0.5% to 1.5% of the lead service line inventory from 1992 to 1997.

At the time the District exceeded the action level in 2002, the best source of information regarding the inventory of lead service lines was the Weston Report, commissioned in 1990 for the District of Columbia Government (Weston's analysis is based upon known lead services, the proximity of other residences to known lead services and installation date.)

Despite the fact that we have undertaken strenuous efforts to reconcile and update pipe material records, some of which date back to the turn of the last century, Weston remains the best source of information.

WASA will allocate the entire federal revolving fund grant, $11 million, for the District to the lead replacement program, but we have only used local ratepayer funds prior to that time. For 2004, the entire cost of the program, including capital, support for the DC Department of Health, and outreach, is approximately $40 million.

With respect to communications, WASA submitted plans for our response to the EPA, which were followed by standard activities including public service announcements, a bill notice and a bill insert (EPA has noted the omission of use of "significantly" and "unhealthy" in some of these notices.)

The Authority also began the physical lead service replacement program, launched the largest water sampling program ever undertaken in the United States, and established a Hotline to help manage customer communications more effectively.

The Authority policy was and is to notify customers of test sample results within 30 days, but we acknowledge that efforts to fine tune the information provided to customers in 2003 (6,111 samples) and the sheer volume of samples in 2004 (18,683 to date) made meeting this objective for every household problematic at times.

In the fall of 2002, following the trigger of the action level, there were discussions among EPA, the Aqueduct, and the Authority regarding a study of the optimal corrosion control methodology and why it was no longer being achieved.

WASA and EPA sought the involvement of external expertise. Dr. Mark Edwards, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, was hired by the EPA. WASA retained Camp, Dresser and McKee, a consulting, engineering construction firm, to support WASA's involvement in the project and to help evaluate the findings produced by other parties.

The lead profiles that have been used to reevaluate the EPA flushing recommendations as they relate to the District of Columbia, are an example of a product of this work.

Early this year, these experts focused very intensively on this effort, and they are now referred to as Technical Expert Working Group. Its work has resulted in the Washington Aqueduct proposal to add orthophosphate in the treatment process for the District in an effort to re-optimize the corrosion control process.

As you may know, orthophosphate was added as a demonstration project to a small part of the distribution system in the northwest quadrant the week of July 1.

We are also pleased to report that we have received, to date, no customer calls regarding the appearance of "red water" -- the potential side effect of the application of orthophosphate. Pending EPA approval, orthophosphate could be added to drinking water for the entire system by mid-August.

In order to inform customers of the Aqueduct's planned application of orthophosphate across the entire system, WASA plans to join with the Washington Aqueduct, the Department of Health and EPA, in informing the media and participating in Technical Expert Working Group community meetings.

WASA has also been using our customer newsletter, reaching out to our 125,000 metered customer addresses on the application of orthophosphate over the past few months.

We will also distribute direct mail to every address, update our web page, update Authority "Interactive Voice Response" (our on hold messages), as well as update our customer service and Lead service Hotline representatives to effectively respond to customer questions.

Chlorine - Unexpected Contributor to Corrosion Optimization

The Authority's initiative in monitoring lead level concentrations during the period from April to May revealed during the annual switch from chloramines to Chlorine revealed that lead level concentrations had dropped by approximately 30 percent.

The finding suggests that chlorine may have had an unexpectedly strong and positive impact on the corrosion control technology, pH adjustment, previously designated by the EPA in 2000.

Studies are continuing, but the challenges associated with simultaneous regulatory compliance, and the lack of national research on its challenges, have moved closer to the center of this discussion.

Board Action and WASA Community Water Pledge

Acknowledging that the Washington Aqueduct is proceeding with plans to attack this problem at the source by adjusting the chemistry and treatment process, the Board of Directors went much further and voted to physically replace all the city's lead service line pipes in public space by September 30, 2010.

Also recognizing that any major infrastructure program can be disruptive, WASA management is committed to also go well beyond the requirements of the law in how we communicate with the public.

Consistent with our Community Water Pledge, we will work to meet the expectations of our residents in communicating clearly and in advance to help minimize any disruption and inconvenience by:

1. Issuing a calendar of planned replacements by block and/or neighborhood
2. Contact customers scheduled for replacement individually by letter
3. Place a door hangar on homeowners' doors
4. Contact customers who are part of the replacement program at three intervals: 45-days, 7-days and 48 hours before construction
5. Participate in or host a community meeting in neighborhoods in advance of construction
6. Provide a WASA contact name and number for questions and complaint resolution.

Part of the Community Water Pledge is to enhance our partnerships in our community, including those with the private sector.

Two weeks ago, we joined Mayor Williams at his weekly press briefing to announce a growing partnership with the private sector - the General Electric Corporation has donated 12,500 filters to the lead services program, joining PUR and Brita who made earlier donations.

As you may know, the Lead and Copper Rule and EPA mandate that we offer homeowners the opportunity to use our contractors to replace the private side of lead service lines for as long as the District exceeds the Action Level.

As part of our Community Water Pledge, we expect to announce as early as next week that a national financial institution will launch a program of low interest loans for low-to-moderate income homeowners for the purpose of replacing the privately owned portion of lead service lines. Grant funds will also be made available from another source to assist low income District residents.

Although we have developed in recent months a stronger partnership with the District of Columbia Department of Health, the Authority has taken additional steps to ensure that we have access to expertise in the areas of both health risk information, and health risk communication.

We have engaged the George Washington University School of Public Health in a very effective partnership to help us better understand the science behind the Lead and Copper Rule and its implications for human health.

This strong partnership is helping us to communicate this information more effectively to our customers and the general public, and we are aware of no similar relationship anywhere else in the country between a water system and a non-governmental health institution

Industry Workshop Planned

We have been working with the University to develop a symposium or workshop for utility and public health professionals in the very near term to examine lessons learned from our experience.

This workshop, which we hope will involve some of the most effective and strongest voices in the industry, will address questions that range from identifying health risks appropriately and risk communication, to simultaneous compliance and the science and policy questions that arose in recent months around the Lead and Copper Rule and its enforcement.

Under the Community Water Pledge, WASA has committed to take the strongest steps to address the expectations of our customers, which far exceeds the requirements of the US EPA. Each of the steps I have outlined is ultimately intended to ensure that we live up to that commitment.

There are, however, questions of policy that do not specifically relate to the Lead and Copper Rule, itself. I believe they may be central to understanding the recent experience in the District of Columbia.

A Unified Water System and Primacy

Mr. Chairman, I continue to believe very strongly that the District Government and other responsible entities should look very closely at the issues of primacy and the future responsibility for water production for the nations capital.

This is not from my perspective a political or philosophical issue. When all is said and done, it is important that policy-makers consider fundamental challenges, such as ensuring that residents are served by:

1. the best structure for the most effective and seamless operation of the water system;
2. a well-informed regulatory authority with a direct and clear responsibility to serve the local community
3. clear lines of authority and public accountability to local authorities.

A transfer of authority from federal to local government is no panacea - there are no infallible systems, managers or processes, but the question of unified management of the water system should be thoughtfully and objectively considered.

Similarly, the issue of federal versus state and local regulation and enforcement of the environmental regulations, in particular, are at the heart of the goals of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Conclusion

In closing, the latest actions by our Board of Directors, including its commissioning and receipt of the Holder Report, and the Authority's determination to learn the lessons of the past and put them to use on behalf of our customers all signal that with respect to governance, management, the sampling program, customer communications and physical replacements, we are determined to rebuild customer and public confidence in the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority.

Thank you for your attention, Mr. Chairman. I would be happy to respond to any questions.