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NEWS RELEASE
36 West Gay Street Suite 314, Columbus OH 43215
TEL: [614] 461-0734 FAX: [614] 461-0730 www.ohio.sierraclub.org |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 15, 2003 |
CONTACTS:
Pat Marida (614) 890-7865
Bryan Clark (614)461-0734 |
COLUMBUS CONTINUES MASSIVE SEWAGE VIOLATIONS
Sierra Club Files New Intent To Sue
Columbus - In an effort to protect public
health and the environment, the Sierra Club today announced the filing of a 60
Notice of Intent to Sue the City of Columbus and its Division of Sewerage and
Drainage for violations of the Clean Water Act. The
Notice identifies Clean Water Act violations in Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs)
and in sewage overflows into Municipal Stormwater (MS4), and is an expansion of
a previous suit filed in July 2002. Today’s Notice was prompted by the City’s
failure to address the substantive issues in the initial suit, according to the
Sierra Club’s Central Ohio Group.
In filing the 60 Day Notice, the Sierra
Club is seeking smart investment in Columbus’ sewer systems to minimize
Combined Sewer Overflows, stop raw sewage discharges into Municipal Stormwater,
and end backups of sewage in basements. As a first step, this will require court
oversight of a Long Term Control Plan that includes a firm capital improvement
project list and clear timelines for completion, according to the Group.
While Columbus has a Long Term Control
Plan, it is insufficient. Paul Novak, Manager of Permits and Compliance for the
Ohio EPA Division of Surface Water recently testified in the federal Columbus
sewer case that the city’s current Long Term Control Plan “is not adequate -
we also don’t feel it adequately addresses the issue of water quality and
meeting water quality standards.”
Notable among Columbus’ violations
listed in today’s Notice are:
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According to Columbus Division of
Sewerage and Drainage manager Mike Foster, for the calendar year 2000 there
were 2659 complaints to the City of raw sewage backups into residents’
basements and “1634 were the City’s responsibility.” There has been no
payment of just compensation.
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Columbus has not erected warning
signs to notify the public of sewage overflows in parks and ravines as
required by the OEPA in 1996.
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From April 2001 to April 2002,
Columbus discharged nearly a billion gallons of partially treated sewage
from the Whittier Street Storm Tank 018 outfall and over a billion gallons
of raw sewage from the Whittier Street Storm Tank 019 outfall.
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Since 1996, according to Columbus,
the City intentionally did not measure the wet weather discharges from
sanitary sewers into storm sewers, even though required by law to do so.
The Sierra Club has also indicated its
hope that Mayor Coleman will direct the Division of Sewage and Drainage to work
with local residents and the Sierra Club to craft a Long Term Control Plan that
protects public health and the environment
“Because the City has refused to deal
with these problems - or meet with concerned citizens to hammer out a plan that
works - we have been forced to seek legal help,” stated Pat Marida, Chair of
the Central Ohio Sierra Club. “The problems are clearly very serious, because
Ohio EPA has issued at least two Notice of Violation letters to Columbus for the
same violations we noted over a year ago.”
“The City of Columbus continues to add
more and more sewage to a system that is already too full,” said Jeff Cox,
Executive Committee member of the Central Ohio Sierra Club. “It’s like
dumping water into a sinking ship. The City of Columbus should have to answer
for that irresponsible behavior and work with local residents to correct it.”
Index
to articles on the Columbus sewers issue.
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