“Dear PoPville,

I am writing to share an unfortunate experience currently plaguing several residents of the 1400 block of Florida Ave NW, which up until this week has been a work zone for the Northwest Boundary Sewer Rehabilitation Project. The project came with the headaches of a significant infrastructure improvement project in the middle of a busy city (lots of noise, loss of street parking for residents, major traffic snarls on what is already a major thoroughfare for regular traffic as well as emergency vehicles), but residents of the area had been able to tolerate the disruptions and coexist peacefully with the crew.

Until June 22. (more…)



photo by DCbmyers

“Dear PoPville,

I live in Adams Morgan, and our building just received another notice from DC Water saying that the water will be shut off tomorrow for 8 hours. Over the past few weeks, our building has received two additional notices saying that our water would be shut off on other dates, but the water has never actually been shut off at the designated time. Is anyone else experiencing the same issue? It is a little disruptive to prep for long periods of water shut offs that never happen.”


Ed. Note: If you see a swarm please call or text the DC Beekeepers Alliance  at (202) 255-4318 or email [email protected]

Thanks to April Thompson for sending:

“Another Day at the Blue Plains Bee Orphanage

Of the many precious resources Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant captures, orphaned honeybees probably aren’t top of mind. Yet tucked behind behind the Bloom blending pit, a row of brightly painted hives serve as home to recovered bee colonies that produce a few hundreds of pounds of award-winning honey per year. The hives were installed five years ago under the auspices of the DC Beekeepers Alliance, with the help of registered beekeeper Chris Peot, DC Water’s Director of Resource Recovery.

As Peot explains of the photo above, “It is swarm season, as the hives transition out of the winter. In the fall the bees breed siblings that can live 5 months – the rest of the year they live an average of only 42 days. A healthy hive will begin breeding short-life workers as the weather warms, and sometimes they get overcrowded. (more…)


“Dear PoPville,

I have a question about overnight water shut offs. DC Water shut the water off Friday for 4 hours during the day for emergency repairs, which was fine because it’s easy enough to go to the office or use public bathrooms during the day, but now they’re going to shut it off for 8 hours overnight, (more…)



photo by Tim Brown

“Dear PoPville,

As an FYI, I’ve been repeatedly contacting DC Water and DOEEE about what the timeline for lead replacement of the main (and private) water lines are like in DC.

I’ve been contacted by contractors asking us to pay them >$15K to replace our private lead lines that come up to the house from the street. After some digging, I found that all public lead water lines are promised to be replaced by 2030 (and potentially many private lines), but the funding falls far short of getting it done anytime close to then. (more…)


Cheryl asks DC Water: “is the dirt in my home’s water connected to road work in 1400 Block of Florida NW?” (more…)


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