RCA Updates: February 2025

About The Rosemont Citizens Association

The Rosemont Citizens Association is a 100% volunteer-run organization working to promote the interests and welfare of its members.

Everyone who resides or owns a property in Rosemont is automatically a member; we rely on contributions from citizens like you to sustain our mission and operations.

Contributions to RCA, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, are not tax deductible.

Please consider a gift to the RCA today!

The City is concluding work on sanitary sewer improvements on East Oak Street, to be followed next month by work on East Maple Street.  The projects include the installation of a temporary sewer while the work is in progress, daytime street closures, and parking restrictions.  Affected houses should receive information directly; an overview is available at https://www.alexandriava.gov/capital-projects/project/sanitary-sewer-capacity-upsizing-project-no-1, including specific planning documents and a copy of a presentation provided earlier this month.

As neighbors may recall, the next few years will see significant construction in and around Rosemont, including for a major storm sewer project on Commonwealth, and new rail bridges at Commonwealth and King.  Additional information about the projects, including the most recent update by City staff to the Transportation Commission, is available at https://www.alexandriava.gov/transportation-planning/project/king-commonwealth-streetscape-improvements.

The City is accepting feedback through March 7.

HELP! Do I have lead pipes???

Since 2018, Virginia American Water has been working to replace existing lead service lines with either copper or PEX (plastic) in their customer service areas, including in the City of Alexandria. VA American Water held an informative open house on February 18th to explain and answer questions about the program.

As a first step, VA American Water has been working to identify the service line material to all homes using historic records dating to when the lines were first installed. If your home has been identified as having service lines that are either: a) lead, b) galvanized steel, or c) unknown, VA American Water will notify you by letter and email and explain what to do.

If your service line material is unknown, VA American Water will walk you through the steps to identify and report the type of service line you have from inside your own home. Details can also be found on their website under the Lead Service Line Replacement Program.

Don’t worry if you guess wrong! Your submission to VA American Water will be reviewed and if the photos don’t appear obvious, VA American Water will contact you and send someone to your home to double-check. The same goes for those who can’t even find their service line. In that case, simply email leadVA@amwater.com and VA American Water will similarly send someone to your home and find and identify your service line material for you.

If you’d like to know the status of what VA American Water knows about your service line (or that of your neighbor’s), simply click on this handy Interactive Map and type in your address. A few rules of thumb: i) lead service lines were most commonly used in homes built between 1900 and 1940 and prohibited after 1986; (ii) if your next-door neighbor’s service lines are lead, it doesn’t increase the chances that yours are also.  Lead particles can attach to the surface of galvanized steel pipes, which is why if you have galvanized steel pipes downstream from lead service lines, the galvanized steel pipes will also be replaced.

The good news is that replacing these lines, both the utility-owned (from the water main to the external shut-off valve or meter) and the customer-owned (from the external shut-off valve or meter to your home) is fully covered by utility payments and state grants; no federal funding is involved. Lines will be replaced to the customer shut-off valve, or 5 feet into the house, whichever is shorter. Trenching will be done to replace the utility-owned lines, but the customer-owned lines can typically be pulled out without trenching, depending on site conditions. VA American Water will contact all customers in advance of scheduling any work.

VA American Water will continue to contact all relevant customers on an annual basis until all unknown service lines have been identified.

Finally, it’s important to know that even if your service line material is lead, corrosion inhibitors added to the water reduces the potential of lead leaching from the pipes. For more ways to reduce your exposure, check out the FAQs on VA American Water’s website.

The next RCA meeting will be on Thursday, March 20 at 7pm at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 100 West Luray Avenue.  The agenda for the meeting is still being set and will be publicized on social media before the meeting.

The Alexandria Sheriff’s office offers a house-watching service (https://www.alexandriava.gov/sheriff/away-from-home-check).  Additionally, the Sheriff continue to offer “Project Lifesaver” to help track adults and children with special needs (https://www.alexandriava.gov/sheriff/project-lifesaver) and will offer another edition of its “academy” introducing community members to its operations in March 2025 (https://www.alexandriava.gov/academies/sheriffs-community-academy).