DC Water is also in the bee business

The honey bee colony at the DC Water Blue Plains wastewater treatment plant gets inspected on Wednesday by the D.C. Department of Energy and the Environment. (WTOP/Kristi King)

These bees have been 'smoked' with burning burlap to calm them. When they encounter smoke they instinctively begin eating honey in case they have to leave their hive to escape a fire. (WTOP/Kristi King) — These bees have been ‘smoked’ with burning burlap to calm them. When they encounter smoke they instinctively begin eating honey in case they have to leave their hive to escape a fire. (WTOP/Kristi King)

#HoneyBee colony at Blue Plains wastewater plant gets inspected @DOEE_DC. Learn why @DCBeekeepers is helping @dcwater w bees @WTOP 103.5fm pic.twitter.com/eBcerLl67a
— Kristi King (@kingWTOP) May 31, 2017

(WTOP/Kristi King)

Real life VS fiction: calming #bees (w in this case burning burlap) doesn't involve LOTS of smoke @dcwater @DOEE_DC @DCBeekeepers @WTOP pic.twitter.com/Vn9zNfimVY
— Kristi King (@kingWTOP) May 31, 2017

(WTOP/Kristi King)

"Bees are really nice and pretty mellow," said Natasha Garcia-Andersen, a fish and wildlife biologist with the D.C. Department of Energy and the Environment. It's wasps and hornets that "are just mean and ornery," Garcia-Andersen said. (WTOP/Kristi King) — “Bees are really nice and pretty mellow,” said Natasha Garcia-Andersen, a fish and wildlife biologist with the D.C. Department of Energy and the Environment. It’s wasps and hornets that “are just mean and ornery,” Garcia-Andersen said. (WTOP/Kristi King)

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WASHINGTON — The work of DC Water involves everything from the Potomac River to sewers and drinking fountains, but the utility also is in the bee business.

“We work with the D.C. Beekeepers Alliance,” said Bill Brower, DC Water’s manager of biosolids operations. “We want to support urban beekeeping and urban agriculture in general.”

Bees love the location along the Anacostia River where they have a water source, said DC Water spokesman Vince Morris.

“We’re also very close to Oxon Hill Farm … that’s hundreds of acres of trees and flowers and gardens,” Morris said. “So there’s lots of pollen nearby and they have a safe environment here.”

Morris noted that the bee population has suffered in recent years, so “every little thing you can do to help is worthwhile.”

The DC Water urban beekeeping effort also includes education. Bees absent from the plant on Wednesday were at a local elementary school being introduced to students so they could learn how beekeeping works and how bees make honey.

The hives at Blue Plains produced 150 pounds of honey last year.

There are 238 registered bee colonies in the District, but there likely are more, according to a hive inspector with the city’s Department of Energy and the Environment (DOEE).

The colonies are monitored for health and to assure the bees are being kept properly with space appropriate for hive density and access to water.

DOEE Fish and Wildlife biologist Natasha Garcia-Andersen said many people are afraid of bees — mistaking them for wasps and hornets, which she calls “just mean and ornery.” But bees, she said, are nice and mellow.

“If your neighbor has a beehive, it shouldn’t be a problem,” Garcia-Andersen said.