Washington DC Water and Sewer Back up Claims

Washington DC's water and sewer utility has put out the following notice:

We're reviewing our claims program as it relates to water main breaks and sewer back ups. Our current policy is we generally do not pay for cleanup costs or damages that result from sewer backups or main breaks. We seek to determine the cause of the backup, if we had prior notice of a problem and whether we failed to timely fix the problem before WASA can consider payment of any claims. The property owner is also required to maintain and remove any clog in the sewer service line that extends from the building to the main sewer line.