#9 Consideration and action on proposed EPA compliance order
DIVISION OF PUBLIC WORKS MEMORANDUM
November 8, 2011
TO: City Council
FROM: Daniel L. Lynch, Utility Director
SUBJECT: Consideration and action on a proposed U.S. EPA compliance order
concerning certain alleged Janesville sewerage system utility discharges
and/or basement backups.
Summary
The Region 5 Office of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
contacted the City in mid-December, 2010 asking for information about the City’s
sanitary sewer collection system. They instructed us to complete a survey asking
general information about the collection system and indicated that their inquiry was
routine in nature. They also indicated that they would be contacting all other
municipalities of comparable size in Region 5. (Region 5 includes the states of Illinois,
Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio as well as Wisconsin.) As required, the survey
was completed and returned to the EPA by mid-January.
At the end of May, the EPA issued an administrative order indicating that the City had
violated terms of its Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination (WPDES) Permit and
ordered the City to among other things, eliminate all Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSO’s)
and Basement Backups. The specific section of the WPDES Permit that the EPA
claims the City has violated is Section 6.2.8. (The referenced section is actually Section
5.2.8.) This Section requires the City to “…properly operate and maintain all facilities
and systems of treatment and control which are installed or used by the permittee to
achieve compliance with the conditions of this permit.” The Order cited three SSO
events from 2008 and 2009 along with several basement backup reports from 2006 to
2010.
At this point the City retained Paul Kent of the Stafford Rosenbaum Law Firm. Mr. Kent
is an experienced attorney on municipal wastewater issues. The City agrees that 3
SSO events occurred over a period between 2008 and 2009, but that the SSO events
were not the result of lack of capacity or sewer maintenance issues, but rather were
attributable to a broken pipe and a clogged pipe, all of which have since been remedied.
The Council has two decisions to make in relation to this order. The first has to do with
authorizing the Manager to execute the intent to comply. If the City does not indicate
that it intends to comply with this order, the City is in violation of the order. A violation of
the Order can lead to administrative or judicial enforcement including the imposition of
penalties.
Manager’s Recommendation
The City Manager’s recommendation has been forwarded confidentially to the Council.
Suggest Motion
Move to authorize the City Manager to execute a response to the United States
Environmental Protection Agency indicating it is the City’s intention to comply with their
Administrative Order (Docket No. V-W-11-AO-08). Furthermore, the response will
include__________________.
Analysis
The City of Janesville owns and operates a 316 mile sanitary sewer collection system
parts of which are over 125 years old. The system includes pipes varying in diameter
from 6-inches up to 72-inches and made of a variety of materials including clay,
concrete, cast iron and plastic. The City conducted a comprehensive master plan of the
collection system in 2004 which identified capacity problems in the system and
compared the City’s construction, operation, maintenance and management activities to
comparable cities throughout the United States and Canada. The City compared
favorably to these cities in almost every benchmark category.
The EPA recently instructed the City to provide information about the collection system.
Some of the requested information provides a generalized description of the collection
system, the wastewater treatment plant and the City as a whole, but most of the
requested information relates to operation and maintenance of the system. These
questions focused on sewer cleaning, manhole inspections construction maintenance
activities. Specific questions were also asked about basement backups and sanitary
sewer overflows during the past five year period. During this period of time the City
averaged 15 basement backups per year and had a total of three SSO’s. For a
community our size these are lower than average numbers. As noted above, unlike
many communities where SSO events result from lack of capacity in the system, or
excessive infiltration and inflow during storm events, neither of those situations is
present in Janesville. The SSO events that occurred were the result of a broken pipe
and a blocked pipe. These are the kind of events that can happen regardless of how
well a system is maintained. Moreover, the volume of these events is miniscule
compared to many SSO events from other cities.
In May of this year the EPA issued an order to the City stating that it felt these numbers
were to high and that they demonstrated that the City was in violation of its WPDES
permit for failing to properly operate and maintain its treatment facilities. City staff met
with the EPA in July and attempted to demonstrate our commitment to the proper
operation and maintenance of the collection system.
The City was among one of the first in the country to conduct a comprehensive master
plan of its collection system. The 2004 master plan showed that the number of
basement backups and SSO’s in Janesville were in fact lower than will be found in
comparable cities. Staff also provided EPA tables showing that over the past 25-years:
System funding for collection and maintenance activities had increased
each year, with a current funding level of $1.7 million per year,
The actual number of basement backups had been reduced from 26 in
1990 to 14 in 2010, and
Current wastewater rates are approximately 9.4% higher than our peer
Cities in Wisconsin.
Staff described the City’s commitment to protecting the environment as demonstrated
by its recent commitment of $32 million to upgrade the wastewater treatment plant even
though the city was experiencing a severe economic downturn (i.e. the closure of the
GM assembly plant and related industries).
.
cc: Eric Levitt, City Manager
Jay Winzenz, Director of Administrative Services
Carl Weber, Director of Public Works
Wald Klimczyk, City Attorney