FAQ

The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water) sells its bonds in the primary market through brokerage firms to various willing purchasers, including individual investors and institutional investors, such as banks and mutual funds. A description of the step-by-step process to purchase bonds in the primary market is provided below. (Note: DC Water sometimes provides individual investors with the opportunity to place orders to purchase bonds before other investors (such as commercial banks and other institutional investors). This early order period is known as the “Retail Order Period”. A benefit of the Retail Order Period is that it provides individual investors with a chance to place orders prior to institutional investors. The Retail Order Period generally occurs one or two days prior to the bond sale date. Orders from District of Columbia residents are given priority.)

You may contact the DC Water (DC Water or (202) 787-2167) or the trustee for your bonds. The trustee is as set forth below for certain of DC Water’s widely-held bonds:

Public Utility Revenue Bonds
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
Corporate Trust Services
MAC-N2619-0804 - Penn Center, Suite 810
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Contact: Marvin Kierstead; (215) 861-9403

To facilitate quick and easy purchases and sales of bonds, bond issuers often engage the services of The Depository Trust Company (DTC). DTC is a securities depository, which is just as it sounds - a place where issuers deposit securities, such as bonds. Rather than giving physical bond certificates to each purchaser, issuers deposit their bonds with DTC, and DTC, together with brokerage firms, keeps track of ownership interests by computer. This system eliminates the need to transfer a physical bond every time a sale occurs. Most, but not all, bonds use DTC. Those that do use DTC are called “book entry” bonds. When purchasing book entry bonds, be sure to review the section in the official statement that discusses book entry system procedures.

No. Bondholders may sell their bonds to another person or entity through a broker-dealer. This type of sale takes place in the “secondary market.” Investors should note that buyers in the secondary market will not necessarily pay you the same amount that you paid for your bonds. Secondary market buyers will compare your bond’s interest rate to the interest rates on new bond issues, or “primary market” offerings. If new bond issue interest rates are higher than the rate on your bond, the buyer may pay you less than the amount of your initial investment.