Consent Decree

In August 2009, the Jeffersonville Sanitary Sewer Board ratified a Consent Decree with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Justice and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). The Consent Decree was accepted by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in November 2009.

The Consent Decree is a federally enforceable, legally binding agreement that resolves alleged violations of the Clean Water Act for untreated overflows from Jeffersonville’s combined sewer system.

Jeffersonville is one of 772 communities in the United States that experience Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). Of those communities, 107 are in Indiana. Louisville also has been identified as a CSO community. Through Consent Decrees, the EPA is systematically working with these communities to ensure that CSOs are reduced or eliminated.

In April 2010, The Jeffersonville Sanitary Sewer Board submitted its initial CSO Long Term Control Plan to the EPA which outlines the work that must take place over the course of the 15 years in order to comply with the Consent Decree. It is estimated Jeffersonville will spend between $90-120 million on wastewater and storm water projects to comply with the Clean Water Act by reducing CSOs.

In the coming years, you will continue to notice infrastructure improvements throughout the city that are meant to repair Jeffersonville’s aging sewer system.
As part of its CSO Long Term Control plan approved by the EPA in 2011, Jeffersonville also has developed a Public Notification Program to ensure the public receives adequate notification of CSO occurrences and their potential impact.

As such, interested members of the public can follow Jeffersonville Wastewater on  opens in a new windowTwitter (@WastewaterDept) or  opens in a new windowFacebook to receive real-time notifications of CSO occurrences.

Click here to learn more about CSOs.
Click here to learn more about the Clean Water Act.