LIMA, Ohio (WLIO) - The City of Lima is seeking to reopen a consent decree reached with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency following a settlement under the Clean Water Act in 2014.
According to public records from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the consent decree required Lima to invest in infrastructure to prevent sewer overflows into the Ottawa River. The action followed allegations of sewage discharges and wastewater treatment plant bypasses, as well as the need to upgrade wastewater treatment capacity.
The decree outlines several requirements. Wastewater treatment upgrades include increasing treatment capacity from 30 million gallons per day to 70 million gallons per day. Combined sewer overflow, or CSO, control measures require the construction of a 13-million-gallon storage basin designed to hold combined overflows, along with full or partial sewer separation.
Sanitary sewer overflow improvements also call for upgrades to the city’s seven sanitary sewer basins.
According to Lima Utilities Director Mike Caprella, the city wants to reopen the decree to explore different requirements as costs continue to rise.
"We're going to try to open up the consent decree and get a little bit different parameters we're required to do. When we first did this consent decree, we had about $200 million worth of improvements into our sewer system, but that number is going up a lot and maybe get some relief," says Mike Caprella, Utilities Director, City of Lima.
The decree also requires Lima to complete an Ottawa River streambank revitalization supplemental environmental project, which is estimated to cost more than $200,000.
