12/30/2011 EPA, City sign consent decree

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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."