City of Shreveport Settlement

WASHINGTON – The city of Shreveport, La., has agreed to make significant upgrades to reduce overflows from its sanitary sewer system and pay a $650,000 civil penalty to resolve Clean Water Act (CWA) violations stemming from illegal discharges of raw sewage, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. The state of Louisiana, a co-plaintiff in this case, will receive half of the civil penalty.

Overview
Violations
Injunctive Relief
Pollutant Reductions
Health and Environmental Effects
Civil Penalty
State Partners
Comment Period
Contact

Overview of Company and Facility Location

The City of Shreveport (the City) owns and operates facilities that provide provides sewage treatment and wastewater services to Shreveport, Louisiana.

Violations

The Complaint alleges violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) in the form of discharges of untreated sewage from City’s sewage collection system, including sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs), to waters of the United States. The City violated Section 301 of the Clean Water Act and terms and conditions of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPSDES) permits. The City’s alleged violations include over 850 SSOs.

Injunctive Relief

The settlement will address these illegal discharges from the City’s publicly-owned treatment works, which includes two waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) and associated collection system. The proposed consent decree will require the City to implement comprehensive injunctive relief within 12 years.

The remedial measures include:

early action projects to address worst problems within the City’s wastewater collection and treatment system (WCTS);
evaluation and rehabilitation of the City’s WCTS; and
implementation of a Capacity, Management, Operation and Maintenance (CMOM) Program to enable the City to manage its system in a more proactive manner and identify and address operation and maintenance failures prior to SSOs occurring.

Pollutant Reductions

Through the implementation of the proposed Decree, the following estimated annual pollutant reductions will result:

4,677 pounds of total suspended solids;
4,477 pounds of biological oxygen demand;
727 pounds of total nitrogen; and
104 pounds of total phosphorus.

Health and Environmental Effects

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.
Biological 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.
Nutrients – 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

The City will pay a civil penalty of $650,000 for its Clean Water Act violations to the United States and the State of Louisiana.

State Partners

The State of Louisiana is a co-plaintiff.

Comment Period

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

For more information, contact

Sushila Nanda
Water Enforcement Division
1200 Pennsylvania Ave, NW (Mail Code 2243A)
Washington, DC 20460
(202)564-4088
[email protected]