The Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the State of Ohio have announced a settlement with the City of Youngstown that will reduce sewage discharges from its combined sewer system.
Under the settlement, the city estimates that it will spend $12 million in short-term improvements over the next six years and $100 million over the next two decades to develop and implement a long-term sewage discharge control plan. As part of the settlement, Youngstown will pay a total civil penalty of $60,000 for past violations, with the money being split evenly between the United States and the State of Ohio.
This agreement will likely eliminate over 800 million gallons of wet weather sewage discharges annually. The settlement is designed to stop the discharge of raw sewage during dry weather. It also has the goal of helping control Youngstown's combined sewer overflows.
Specifically, the settlement puts Youngstown on an enforceable schedule to eliminate direct discharges of raw sewage, eliminate a sewer overflow at Orchard Meadow near Mill Creek Park's Lily Pond, replace two pump stations and make significant improvements to operation and maintenance of the sewer system. The settlement also requires the city to develop and implement a long-term control plan to reduce or eliminate wet weather discharges from its combined sewer system, which will require several major construction projects over the next 20 years.
"This agreement reflects a joint effort to correct a long-standing problem," Ohio Attorney General Betty D. Montgomery said. "We applaud the city's willingness to commit to a long-term solution that will benefit the health and safety of the citizens of Youngstown."
The Justice Department and the federal EPA, often joined by the states, are taking an active lead in municipal CWA enforcement across the country and have already entered into settlements with numerous municipalities, including Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Boston, Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Honolulu, Jefferson County, Ala., Miami, Mobile, Ala., New Orleans, San Diego.
EPA Promotes Water Efficiency in the Home
EPA is promoting water efficiency in the home by offering on-line information on saving water and reducing utility costs.
Water efficiency is an important part of protecting human health and the environment. Using water efficiently can help improve water quality, protect valuable sources of drinking water, reduce the cost of drinking water and wastewater treatment, maintain healthy aquatic ecosystems and mitigate drought impacts.
Water efficiencies in the home can be improved by detecting and fixing leaky faucets, installing high efficiency clothes washers and toilets and watering the lawn and garden with the minimum amount of water needed.
Fixing a silent toilet leak may save as much as 500 gallons per day. Installing high efficiency plumbing fixtures and appliances can help a typical family of four reduce indoor water use by one-third, save about $95 per year on its water and sewer bill and cut energy use by as much as six percent.
Watering the landscape with an automatic irrigation system may likely be the single largest use of water in the home and can be dramatically improved by using proper irrigation and scheduling techniques such as cycling the sprinklers.
Using all of these techniques will also reduce impacts on rivers, lakes and streams. Water efficiency continues to play an important role not only in protecting water sources and improving water quality, but also in reducing the amount of energy used to treat, pump and heat water - currently about eight percent of U.S. energy demand.
Water heating accounts for 19 percent of home energy use. If 20 percent of U.S. homes used high efficiency clothes washers, national energy savings could be 285 billion BTUs per day - enough to supply the needs of over one million homes.
Additional information can be found on the following link: Water Saver Home at: http://www.h2ouse.net. The site was developed by the California Urban Water Conservation Council in partnership with EPA.
EPA Publishes New Nutrient Criteria Documents
EPA has published nine new nutrient criteria documents for lakes/reservoirs and rivers/streams. In January 2001, EPA released 17 ecoregion-specific nutrient criteria documents (66 FR 1671) as part of the 1998 National Nutrient Strategy. The documents are intended to assist states and tribes with the development of numeric nutrient criteria and contain specific recommendations.
The criteria documents have undergone peer review outside of the agency. The criteria documents are available on the web at www.epa.gov/waterscience/ standards/nutrient.html. (SRT)
