CSO Citizen's Petition

Details on Proposed Amendments to Indiana's Rules

106 communities in Indiana have combined sewer systems.  Pursuant to EPA regulations, these communities must ensure that these combined sewer discharges do not violate Indiana’s water quality standards.  Yet, no one doubts that discharging raw sewage into an Indiana river will violate the standards. 

The sewage in our streams that results from these overflows causes bacteria levels hundreds of times in excess of the water quality standards for E. coli.  And E. coli is only an indicator for a broad array of pathogenic bacteria and viruses that can cause infectious diseases in human. Some of these diseases may be life threatening to the very young the elderly and to those with compromised immune systems. These infectious diseases may be spread to those who have had no contact with contaminated water but have had contact with those originally infected from the water. The sewage also threatens aquatic life.  Modeling by the City of Indianapolis indicates that a summer rain can create a “dead zone” by downtown Indianapolis where dissolved oxygen levels are nearly zero for several hours.  Most fish cannot survive under these conditions. 

While combined sewer systems are a legacy of shortsighted engineering decision made in the first half of the 20^th Century, our shortsightedness continues.  As designed, CSOs were able to handle a rainfall of approximately 0.75”.  The sewer systems were “oversized” to allow space for storm water.  However, municipalities continued to accept new sanitary sewage that used up the space reserved for storm water.  As a result, many combined sewer systems overflow with only a 0.1” rainfall.  Cities and towns failed to recognize that sewers are a part of a community’s infrastructure just as roads and electricity. 

Thanks to a mandate by EPA and long-delayed recognition by IDEM, communities are now confronted with costs to upgrade sewer systems that total well over $4 billion.  Indianapolis alone is looking at a bill of $1.6 billion to reduce the number of overflows to four per year.  They are finally forced to look at the long-term prospects for sewer collection and treatment capacity. 

Despite these significant costs, regular exposure of our residents to dangerous pathogens, and periodic fish kills, municipalities and IDEM continue to authorize more sewage discharges into overloaded collection and treatment systems.  They reason that the capacity of a system should only be based on dry weather flows.  Without explanation, they ignore the impact of wet weather events – despite the threat to public health.  While each new discharge into the sewer system only incrementally increases the overflows, the aggregate impacts are devastating, especially to the integrity of our inner city and urban neighborhoods that bear the brunt of CSOs.  

In one recent example, IDEM authorized the construction of a three mile long pressurized sewer system that flowed into a sanitary sewer system, then into a combined sewer system, and finally into a treatment plant.  The treatment plant was so overloaded that it forced an estimated one billion gallons of sewage into a river that is part of the Great Lakes basin.  Even when the plant had available capacity, sewage that was stored in a temporary holding pond was allowed to flow to the river instead of being returned to the treatment plant.  IDEM did not require that the city install a pump to address the problem despite a permit condition that requires that the discharge of excessive pollutants be minimized. 

IDEM authorized the increased flow despite the presence of an unresolved EPA administrative order against the municipality regarding the operation of the system.  The City accepted the flow despite no legal mandate to do so.  The 46-home development was miles outside the city limit.  And the pressurized main precluded any connection by residents bordering the sewer who have failing septic systems.  The municipalities top priority should be to stop the failing septic systems – not encouraging more development that only makes the system worse.

In essence, every week, IDEM approves permits that make the CSO problem worse.  That runs counter to common sense and the plain language of the law. 

IDEM has refused to provide an explanation for its decisions.  Several developers have come to IDEM’s aid and suggested distorted readings of the regulations to support their development.  Therefore, the citizens signing the attached petition believe that the proposed amendments are needed to make it absolutely clear that we must not make the situation worse.  Developers can find alternative methods to handle their sewage.  They may install equipment to store the sewage until the sewage collection and treatment system has available capacity.  Or they may find permanent offsets through source separation that reduces other sewage or rainwater influent into the sewer system. 

 What does the proposal require?

The proposal makes it clear that:

1.      IDEM has a responsibility to verify the accuracy of the evidence it receives regarding the potential impact on the sewer system.   Developers have argued that IDEM must accept the evidence even if IDEM has contradictory evidence in its possession or has reason to believe it is false or inaccurate. 

2.      Capacity is based on the treatment and the collection system.  A municipality cannot claim it has capacity by ignoring massive overflows from a collection system that is incapable of conveying the sewage to the plant.

3.      Capacity is based on wet weather events not just on the most favorable conditions.  While not explicitly giving municipalities any guidance on the conditions to use, IDEM knowingly accepts capacity certifications based solely on dry weather conditions.

4.    Sets an upper limit of a five-year rainfall to evaluate wet weather conditions.  A five-year rainfall is predicted to occur only once every five years.  This upper limit provides a common standard to evaluate the situation.