City of Houston Clean Water Settlement

(WASHINGTON, DC – Dec. , 2016)  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) today announced a landmark settlement with the city of Houston that will result in substantial upgrades to the city’s sewer system and wastewater treatment plants that will significantly reduce releases of raw sewage and protect public health. The settlement resolves alleged violations of the Clean Water Act for the city’s failure to properly operate and maintain its sewer system and for discharges of untreated sewage into local waterways. 

• Overview
• Violations
• Injunctive Relief
• Environmental Justice
• Next Generation Compliance
• Climate Risk Assessment
• Pollutant Impacts
• Health and Environmental Effects
• Civil Penalty
• Comment Period
• Contact

Overview

The city of Houston owns and operates one of the largest separate sanitary sewer systems in the country. Houston’s system serves more than two million customers and includes 40 wastewater treatment plants, more than 6,100 miles of sewer pipe and approximately 400 lift stations.  Houston also owns and operates three wet weather facilities.

Violations

The settlement resolves alleged violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) in the form of discharges of untreated sewage from Houston’s wastewater collection and transmission system, including sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs), to waters of the United States. Houston violated Section 301 of the CWA and terms and conditions of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPSDES) permits for failing to properly operate and maintain the system and for exceeding permitted pollutant limits at several of its wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs).

Injunctive Relief

The consent decree requires the city of Houston to address SSOs and WWTP effluent exceedances. Specifically, Houston will:

• Perform early action projects to address known issues within Houston’s WWTPs and wastewater collection and transmission system;
• Conduct a comprehensive assessment of its sanitary sewer system to identify structural defects and locations with insufficient capacity needed to convey wastewater; 
• Perform remedial measures and capital improvement projects in order to correct identified deficiencies and prevent SSOs.
• Eliminate discharges from the three wet weather facilities that do not provide the required level of wastewater treatment during large wet weather events;
• Implement a capacity, management, operation and maintenance program to guide how Houston will perform routine, proactive inspection and maintenance activities with the goal of preventing SSOs from occurring; and
• Conduct WWTP lifecycle assessments and projects to identify and perform capital improvements necessary for sustained compliance with NPDES permits.

The total cost of implementing the above measures is estimated by Houston to cost between $3 billion and $5 billion over a 22-year period. In addition, Houston will perform a supplemental environmental project (SEP) valued at a minimum of $1,500,000 to repair and replace defective private sewer laterals in low-income residential neighborhoods. The SEP will help to reduce the potential exposure of residents living in low-income portions of the city to raw sewage.

Environmental Justice

Many of the areas from which SSOs occur repeatedly are located in areas with low income and minority communities. When the injunctive relief and supplemental environmental project to replace defective private sewer laterals is implemented, the settlement will help reduce the direct exposure of these communities in Houston to sewage discharges.

Next Generation Compliance

Houston will install 200 real-time remote level sensors capable of sending alarms when sewer levels are at risk of overflowing. Installing this advanced water monitoring technology in historically active SSO locations will help prevent many SSOs from occurring and provide Houston important data on how the system reacts during wet-weather. Using and promoting advanced pollution detection technology is a component of EPA’s Next Generation Compliance.

Climate Risk Assessment

To help improve the ability of communities and regulated entities to adequately protect water resources from climate related changes and maintain compliance with the Clean Water Act, the consent decree also requires the city of Houston to perform all work using sound engineering practices that include practices to improve the climate resilience of the sewer system. The consent decree provides that Houston may use EPA’s Climate Ready Water Utilities Initiative and EPA’s Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool when sizing long-term infrastructure projects.

Pollutant Impacts

Houston has experienced more than 4,000 SSOs over the past five years caused by pipe blockages, insufficient sewer capacity and system failures. These SSOs have resulted in discharges exceeding 9 million gallons of untreated sewage into local waterways or backups into city streets or homes, causing serious water quality and public health problems. Affected waterways include Buffalo Bayou and Sims Bayou which reach Galveston Bay within the Gulf of Mexico. SSOs pose risks to human health and the environment. Untreated sewage contains organic matter, bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxics and metals, which may cause illness or even death. Most illnesses that arise from contact with sewage are caused by pathogens, which are biological agents that cause disease or illness in a host. The most common pathogens in sewage are bacteria, parasites and viruses. They cause a wide variety of acute illnesses including diarrhea and infections.

Health Effects and Environmental Benefits

Through the implementation of the proposed collection system remedial projects, the following estimated annual pollutant reductions will result:

• 2,806 pounds of total suspended solids (TSS). TSS indicates the measure of suspended solids in wastewater, effluent or water bodies. High levels of TSS in a water body can diminish the amount of light that penetrates the water column and reduce photosynthesis and the production of oxygen.
• 2,686 pounds of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). BOD is an indirect measure of the biologically degradable material present in organic wastes. High BOD means there is an abundance of biologically degradable material that will consume oxygen from the water during the degradation process. It may take away oxygen that is needed for aquatic organisms to survive.
• 6,723 pounds of chemical oxygen demand (CBOD). CBOD is a measure of the capacity of water to consume oxygen during the decomposition of organic matter and the oxidation of inorganic chemicals. High levels of CBOD may limit the supply of oxygen needed for aquatic organisms to survive.
• 436 pounds of total nitrogen and 62 pounds of total phosphorus. Excess levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in waters can produce harmful algal blooms. These blooms contribute to the creation of hypoxia or “dead zones” in water bodies where dissolved oxygen levels are so low that most aquatic life cannot survive.

Civil Penalty

Houston will pay a civil penalty of $4.4 million. The state of Texas and the United States will each collect $2.2 million of the $4.4 million civil penalty. This will be the largest total civil penalty collected from a municipality for CWA violations.        

Comment Period

The proposed settlement, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.   Information on submitting comments is available at the Department of Justice website.

For more information, contact:

Carol King
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
Water Enforcement Division
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW (Mail Code 2243A)
Washington, DC 20460
202-564-2412
king.carol@epa.gov