The Sierra Club's lawsuit against the City of Columbus for Clean Water Act violations due to raw sewage overflows was filed in July of 2002. The suit was dismissed in Aug. 2003 by US District Court Judge Algenon Marbley. He did not rule on the merits of the case. Instead, Marbley gave the opinion that the Club's Notice did not provide enough documentation of violations. The Club believes that the intent of the Clean Water Act was to allow citizens to act to remediate problems immediately , not to force citizens to thoroughly document every violation before getting relief from the court. Columbus has illegally kept incomplete records or no records of overflows, making documentation more difficult. The Club feels that with continuing violations from the city, it will be possible to document violations thoroughly enough to gain standing in court.