The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that the city of Elyria, Ohio has entered into a consent decree with the United States and the State of Ohio to eliminate the discharges of untreated sewage from its sewer system into the Black River, 10 miles upstream from Lake Erie.
The city will complete a series of capital projects to eliminate the discharges as part of its agreement. Elyria has designed and agreed to implement construction projects that will significantly increase the amount of wastewater that receives treatment and will prevent overflows from sanitary and combined sewer outfalls when the system becomes overloaded.
When the projects are completed, EPA says that the Black River’s water quality will be greatly improved. The agency estimates that Elyria will pay nearly $250 million to improve its sewer system, along with a $100,000 penalty to the United States and a $100,000 penalty to Ohio’s Surface Water Improvement Fund.
The consent decree would resolve the violations that an underlying complaint, filed by the U.S. and Ohio, had alleged. The complaint says that Elyria’s sanitary sewers overflowed on more than 1,100 occasions since 2011, resulting in discharges of untreated sewage into the Black River or a tributary to the river. The complaint also alleges that Elyria failed to comply with a previous court order to stop the discharges.
“The City of Elyria’s infrastructure investment will not only reduce untreated sewage from entering the Black River, but also improve water quality for residents,” says Larry Starfield, acting assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “EPA and the State of Ohio worked with the City of Elyria to develop a comprehensive solution to protect water quality.”
Under the proposed consent decree, the various projects within Elyria’s sewer system will be completed by Dec. 31, 2044. The most significant of these projects will be completed within the first 15 years — this includes completion of the city’s East Side Relief Sewer, increasing capacity at Elyria’s wastewater treatment plant, and adding processes to mitigate the harm from any bypasses around the wastewater treatment plant, and twelve other projects that will control waste overflows or the flow of non-wastewater into the sewer system.
Elyria will submit semi-annual progress reports to the United States and the State until all work has been completed.
