The D.C. Water and Sewer Authority is warning District residents to ignore unsolicited water-testing kits that a yet-unidentified company has been offering residents of Northeast Washington. The kit, essentially a plastic bottle, arrives via a door hanger with little information, except to fill the bottle and wait for it to be picked up within 24 hours, said Rich Giani, WASA water quality director. Some time later, a salesman calls with warnings of high lead or chlorine levels and an offer: Buy this newfangled, $2,000 reverse-osmosis water treatment system.

“We have at least said we are not endorsing this at all,” Giani said. “It’s more of a scare tactic. It’s alarming people and they’re calling us. If there was a [water] problem, we’d be reporting it.”

Giani is convinced the company isn’t testing the water at all, which would “certainly” be fraud, he said. But “other than putting a bulletin out, I don’t think there’s much we can do.”

The calls, for now, seem to be coming primarily from residents of the Providence Hospital area in Northeast, Giani said, though the company might be branching out based on recent complaints.

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The unidentified company may be trying to take advantage of recent reports that WASA’s tap water isn’t safe — that it might be high in lead or chlorine toxins. The water “is in full compliance with federal Safe Drinking Water Act regulations for health and safety,” the agency said.

Karyn-Siobhan Robinson, spokeswoman with the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, said the matter “is something we would investigate if it was brought to our attention.” DCRA oversees consumer protection.

“If this is happening, we would like to know about it,” Robinson said.

For more information

» Customers with concerns or questions about the quality of their tap water should contact the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority at 202-612-3440.

mneibauer@dcexaminer.com