DC Water is reminding DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs construction permit applicants that the System Availability Fee (SAF) goes into effect on January 1, 2018 and that once in place it will impose a one-time fee on new, renovation and redevelopment construction projects.

In 2015, DC Water’s Board of Directors started a process to get public input about the fee and the regulations for implementing it were approved in 2016 and published in the D.C. Register on June 17 2016. DC Water will begin assessing the SAF on January 1, 2018.

DCRA Construction Permit Applicants who want to be exempt from the new SAF must meet all of the following criteria:

1. By January 1, 2018, you must submit sufficiently complete project plans and specifications to DC Water and pay the DC Water Engineering Review fees at the time of the submission.

2. You must be a DCRA Construction Permit applicant, i.e., your plans to construct the project for which the SAF exemption applies must be “Under Review” by DCRA on or before the date the DC Water Certificate of Approval is issued.

3. DC Water must issue your Certificate of Approval by January 1, 2019.

For more information about the SAF, please visit DC Water’s website at /system-availability-fee