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Statement by Bud Schardein, Jr., MSD Executive Director
On Comprehensive Settlement
Related to Clean Water Act and Sewer Overflows
MSD has reached a
comprehensive agreement with federal and state agencies on a
consent decree that will address sewer overflows on MSD’s
wastewater system. Overflows occur when groundwater is put into
MSD’s sewers by homeowners in order to prevent basement flooding
or by leaky systems inherited by MSD over the past thirty years.
For the past ten years MSD has worked towards eliminating these
overflows in a cost-effective manner. MSD received partial success
in reducing overflows by its back flow prevention program which
disconnected homeowners’ sump pumps and down spouts from the
sanitary sewer system and with sanitary sewer rehabilitation.
The consent decree
recognizes MSD’s commitment to protect people’s property as well
as the environment. The consent decree places additional
requirements on MSD, including the elimination of approximately
80% of MSD’s sanitary sewer overflows by 2013. MSD was given
adequate time to plan a solution that will be effective and
economical. The actual amount required to meet the consent decree
will not be known until the planning process and construction
bidding is complete. MSD negotiated a reasonable fine and
supplemental environmental projects, all of which will benefit the
Commonwealth of Kentucky and Louisville Metro. These supplemental
environmental projects include the following:
- Funding the Board of
Health for cancer screenings
- Planting vegetation
along urban streams
- Funding outdoor
classroom programs on the environment with JCPS
- Helping the
Commonwealth with eliminating pollution
- Expanding the
bicycle and pedway connections
- Converting Lee’s
Lane Landfill for recreational use
MSD will do all we can
to mitigate the impact on our customers. Rates will, of course,
have to increase to pay for the required capital improvements.
However, even with the increase, MSD will remain one of the lowest
cost providers of sewer services in our region.
MSD credits the
Commonwealth, through its Secretary of Environmental and Public
Protection Cabinet, Lajuana S. Wilcher, for her leadership in
bringing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department
of Justice and MSD together in a reasonable cooperative solution.
MSD agreed to the consent decree to avoid lengthy and costly
litigation, and to clarify MSD’s compliance with sewer overflow
requirements. Over the past two years, our state regulators and
the federal government have made it clear that the original pace
of MSD’s improvements would not meet the higher standards now
required.
From the beginning,
everyone, including MSD, agreed on the ultimate goal to make
capital improvements necessary to improve water quality in our
area. All of us at MSD are committed to meeting these new
requirements in the most efficient and effective way possible. We
welcome the input and support of our partners in this process as
we move forward.
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