“I wanted to alert you to a very B.S. situation involving DC Water”

“Dear PoPville,

I wanted to alert you to a very B.S. situation involving DC Water. A DCW pipe broke in the street in front of our house on Kenyon St NW last October. Nothing weather-related; it was a perfectly sunny day. The pipe break flooded our basement and our neighbors’ basements before DCW turned it off. We needed to hire multiple contractors and sub-contractors to clean up the flooding, which cost us $3,500.

We followed DCW’s instructions and filed a claim for compensation. (This was our only route to compensation, since our homeowners’ insurance deductible is also $3,500.) DCW’s claims adjuster just denied the claim (see attached letter), saying that DCW generally isn’t responsible for paying compensation to homeowners when DCW’s pipes break. The claims adjuster told me DCW has no liability in this situation, because it was an “act of nature,” even though it was a perfectly sunny day. Our neighbor incurred over $10,000 in damages, and also had their claim denied.

I’d love for you to ask if other people have also been stiffed by DCW following pipe breaks. Seems to me that DCW is exporting the maintenance costs for their aging pipes to homeowners that are unlikely enough to live next to a failing pipe. In this case, our small children pay, because our spring daycare budget just sprung a $3,500 hole.”