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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/30/2011 EPA, City sign consent decree p4SpU T$8�� � O F U d W rence y 1865 Office of the Mayor NEWS RELEASE December 30,2011 3:30 p.m. EPA, City sign consent decree Pact will launch 20-year, $509-million plan for clean water Contact: Gary Gilot, Director of Public Works, 235-9251 or Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications &Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-1564 After years of negotiation and six years into implementation of early action projects, a consent decree was filed in federal court today outlining plans for the most extensive capital project in South Bend's history in order to ensure compliance with the federal Clean Water Act. A 20-year, $509.5 million long-term control plan to reduce combined sewer overflows (CSOs) in the City of South Bend was signed by Mayor Stephen J. Luecke along with officials from the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the State of Indiana and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. The consent decree was filed Dec. 30 in South Bend before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. Nearly 800 other cities with aging sewer infrastructure find themselves facing the same kind of massive investments—upwards of$50 billion—as a requirement of the Clean Water Act. Since 2006, South Bend already has invested or committed through current rates $100 million towards the $509.5 million plan. Initial efforts have included expansion of the 55-year-old Wastewater Treatment Plant, separating existing combined sewers into separated storm and sanitary sewers, and building capacity for additional storage of combined sanitary sewage and storm water. "South Bend's environment is getting cleaner. Homeowners are confronted with fewer basement backups of combined sewage and stormwater and city residents are more actively enjoying the St. Joseph River, our most treasured natural resource,"Luecke said. "This consent decree sets the plan for reducing CSOs and the problems associated with them, including basement backups, neighborhood flooding and river pollution associated with combined sewage overflows." When the City of South Bend began negotiations with the EPA in 2003, discharge levels into the St. Joseph River were about 2 billion gallons per year. By 2010,through early action the City had reduced that volume to 750 million gallons per year. The volume of overflows will be reduced by 95 percent from the starting baseline overflow in a typical year. The number of CSO events will be reduced to 4 per year. South Bend will be held to 4 overflow per year level of control and has two windows of opportunity through innovative technology and green solutions for reducing the $ 509.5 million cost estimate of the default CSO Long Term Control Plan. "By substantially reducing the volume of untreated sewage and pollutants entering the St. Joseph River, this settlement will improve water quality and protect the health of people who use that river," said United States Attorney David Capp. "South Bend is making a major investment in improving its sewage collection and treatment system that will pay off in better protection of public health and a cleaner river." "This consent decree requires South Bend to prevent the flow of raw sewage into the St. Joseph River," said EPA Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman. "When the city completes the work required under this settlement, the water will be cleaner and healthier for those who paddle and fish in the river." City sewer rates have risen in recent years after many years with no rate increases, a time when investment in environmental infrastructure of an aging sewer system lagged. Typical residential sewer bills rose from about $17 per month in 2005 to $34 per month in 2011. Those bills will increase about 8 percent per year through 2013 to fund mandated improvements, reaching $42 per month. Over the 20-year period for implementation of the consent decree, rates will continue to rise in South Bend and in 800 other CSO communities that face these requirements. South Bend's rates will remain competitive with surrounding communities. In the current four- year funding period already approved by the Mayor and Common Council,the City will invest another $70 million to complete the $102,193,000 of work projected by the City to meet EPA requirements for Phase 1. In Phase 2 between 2014 and 2031,the City will spend $367.7 million. Mandated features of the long-term control plan include: • Upgrading the capacity of the Wastewater Treatment Plant to 100 million gallons per day, matching the wet-weather capacity of the existing storm-sewer interceptor,the primary sewer line conveying outflow to the wastewater treatment plant. • The addition of seven new storage tanks, a storage conduit as well as a 12,000-foot storage and conveyance mechanism running parallel to the existing interceptor from CSO 6 at Leland Avenue and Riverside Drive to the Wastewater Treatment Plant. • Construction of a storage conduit running parallel to the river from the Howard Park Ice Rink to CSO 25 at North Shore Drive and Lafayette Boulevard An additional challenge facing South Bend is the requirement to control its disinfection rate to achieve water quality standards at the Michigan state line —about 2.6 miles from the Wastewater Treatment Plant. But South Bend also has a benefit not enjoyed by other communities. As the world's first city to deploy a system to monitor and control CSOs with technology, South Bend will use wireless sensors, computers and smart valves to help control wet weather flow in its existing system and save a projected $120 million in avoided capital costs. CSOnet was developed in conjunction with entrepreneurs at South Bend-based EmNet LLC, based on research conducted at the University of Notre Dame and Purdue University. The consent decree provides the latitude for the City of South Bend to reduce the aggregate size and number of tanks and related mandated infrastructure (saving South Bend rate payers money while accomplishing environmental stewardship objectives) based on the proven success of solutions resulting from the use of green infrastructure or from the implementation of CSOnet technology. Green infrastructure measures are the range of storm-water control measures that use plant and soil systems, permeable pavement or storm-water management to harvest,reuse, store, infiltrate and other means to reduce CSOs and the volume of wet weather requiring storage and treatment(again saving South Bend ratepayers money while accomplishing environmental stewardship objectives). "For a $6 million investment in CSOnet, we expect to be able to improve system performance 25 percent to use existing assets to achieve the same level of benefit as conventional solutions costing an estimated $120 million in avoided storage and conveyance future investment," said Public Works Director Gary Gilot. "This is giving us real-time monitoring and control to maximize the storage and conveyance capacity of our sewer system in the same way that engineers limit traffic entering freeways to control congestion." After pilot studies, CSOnet was launched in 2008 when South Bend deployed 110 wireless sensors underneath"smart" manhole covers citywide. Through an embedded radio mesh network,these small computers enable crews to monitor the depth and flow of storm water and sewage in the 500-mile sewer network. At each monitoring point, data from sensors is transmitted by radio to a nearby gateway, which uploads the data to a secure web site. City officials can access the data 24/7 at any point in South Bend's 13,100-acre combined-sewer system or at its 36 CSO outfall points. In addition to the mandated portions of the consent decree, the City of South Bend will spend $150,000 to help restore aquatic habitat in Bowman Creek, one of the most environmentally impaired tributaries in the St. Joseph River watershed. The project is a supplemental environmental project undertaken not as part of its combined sewer overflow long-term control plan, but as a locally proposed project benefiting the local environment in lieu of paying higher fines and penalties to EPA for past combined sewage overflows. Bowman Creek enters South Bend near the AM General test track along West Chippewa Avenue before winding its way for two miles through southeast South Bend. The creek passes landmarks like Riley High School and the Studebaker Golf Course mostly underground or within enclosed storm sewer pipes until it drains into the St. Joseph River across from the Farmers Market. "Bowman Creek runs dry during droughts, floods during rainstorms, is little valued and often serves as a dump, despite fencing that seeks to control dumping. It is one of the most impaired tributaries in the St. Joseph River watershed," Gilot said. "But we can fix it. Bowman Creek could become an area with attractive passive linear parks, hiking trails and wildlife habitat. Fish could thrive where they now barely survive." "South Bend was named Indiana's Green Community of the Year in 2009, and we are building on that recognition as good environmental stewards,"Luecke said. "I'm enthusiastic that our team is always searching for creative ways to improve City services, enhance quality of life and be a socially responsible advocate for our environment."