Bill creates clear rules and timelines for disconnections, particularly in large apartment buildings where the landlord has not paid the water bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 21, 2025
Contact: Erik Salmi
202-445-0834

Councilmember Charles Allen (Ward 6) has introduced a new bill to provide greater transparency and clear timelines for when DC Water can disconnect water service to District of Columbia homes.

DC Water faces a growing balance of unpaid bills for the water and sewer services it provides, with the total amount owed totaling more than $35 million. As a result, earlier this year, DC Water began initiating service disconnections at apartment and other multifamily buildings across the District – from 2- or 4-plexes to large, market-rate buildings providing a home to hundreds of people.

In some cases, property owners have struggled to cover their water bills and would benefit from more information about payment plan options. But in other cases, residents had been paying their portions of the water bill to their landlords for rent and water services, only to be surprised by a disconnection notice because their landlords had not paid the building’s water bill to DC Water.

“Water is a basic human need, so disconnecting water service is very serious. While DC Water needs to be paid for its critical services that keep our city running, property owners deserve more information, and tenants also need to know if their landlord hasn’t been paying the water bill and what to do next,” said Councilmember Allen. “This bill requires DC Water to better communicate about potential disconnections and tenants’ legal rights, creates a way for tenants to assume the bill in their name, and incentivizes landlords to install submeters for each unit to help eliminate the risk of entire buildings losing water.”

In many large apartment buildings in DC, unlike with electric service, individual apartments do not have an individual water meter, known as a sub-meter. There is only one “master” water meter for the entire building. The landlord collects water payments from tenants and is ultimately responsible for the bill. If, for instance, a property owner falls behind on their mortgage and stops paying the water bill to cover the mortgage instead, even for a small amount, residents have no way of knowing they are at risk of a disconnection, and they also don’t know what to do next.

The DC Water Billing and Disconnection Modernization Amendment Act of 2025 would bring more fairness, transparency, and accountability to DC Water’s billing and disconnection practices for both property owners and tenants. Key provisions include:

• Creating clear timelines for billing and disconnections, including additional time for disconnections for seniors and people with disabilities;
  
  
• Prohibiting water disconnections during periods of extreme heat or cold;
  
  
• Notifying the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection about water bill arrears to ensure an accurate clean hands review process for other licenses;
  
  
• Requiring DC Water to notify tenants in every unit of a multifamily building, in the languages spoken by residents, when a disconnection is pending;
  
  
• Allowing tenants to establish water service in their own names, even if they live in a building with just a single meter, when their landlord has not paid the bill;
  
  
• Requiring DC Water to establish amnesty and incentive programs to help landlords get in good standing, including incentivizing the installation of individual water meters in each unit; and
  
  
• Requiring DC Water to report monthly to the Council on disconnections, delinquencies, liens, and other enforcement actions to allow for greater oversight over the disconnection process.

This new legislation builds on Councilmember Allen’s emergency and temporary legislation, which the Council passed this summer, to require clearer and more timely notices when a disconnection is pending. It also established modernized billing and disconnection standards, expanded protections for vulnerable residents, and ensured that District agencies are notified early enough to help affected tenants.

The bill is co-introduced by Councilmembers Robert White, Brooke Pinto, Janeese Lewis George, Matt Frumin, Trayon White, and Brianne K. Nadeau.