EPA releases Lexington from part of historic 2011 consent decree. What that means.
Federal environmental regulators say Lexington no longer needs federal oversight of its stormwater program, which was required under a decade-old agreement to fix problems with the city’s storm and sanitary sewers.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the city agreed in 2011 on how Lexington will fix problems in its then-overtaxed stormwater and sanitary sewers that contributed to various Clean Water Act violations.
The agreement included stormwater and sanitary sewers and addressed environmental remediation projects.
In January, U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell signed off on an agreement between the federal agency and Lexington that released the city from federal oversight of its stormwater program.
The parts of the consent decree involving environmental remediation projects and sanitary sewers, including nearly $590 million in such upgrades as new sewer lines and wet weather storage tanks, are still in effect.
Charlie Martin, the director of water quality for Lexington, said the city will not change its stormwater program. Parts of that program include inspecting all new construction sites to ensure dirt and other debris are not entering the stormwater system or nearby creeks and streams. That type of monitoring will still occur, Martin said.
“This just removes us from federal oversight,” Martin said. “The state and the city are still fully engaged in doing what we need to do to protect water quality.”
It’s in the city’s best interest to do so. Failure to monitor stormwater could mean a return to EPA oversight and fines.
For example, the city has to monitor 90 percent of new construction sites each month as part of the 2011 consent decree. If the city didn’t, it would face an automatic fine under the agreement, Martin said.
Last spring, Martin asked the EPA if it could waive some of the requirements due to coronavirus-related shutdowns. Martin said it wasn’t safe to send staff to do all the inspections.
EPA officials told Martin to ask to be released from that portion of the consent decree because Lexington has consistently performed well and no longer needed federal oversight.
Since the city will continue to do the monitoring required by federal regulators, the release may not generate immediate savings. The change will save staff time in preparing multiple reports to the EPA each year on the city’s progress, Martin said.
Nonetheless, the city and its citizens should celebrate, Martin said.
“We are light years ahead of where we started in 2007,” Martin said of the city’s efforts to improve water quality.
“I’ve never been more proud of this city and its residents,” Martin said of the multitude of changes that made the release from federal oversight possible. “This is a huge accomplishment on the part of this community.”
The sanitary sewer upgrades required as part of the EPA consent decree are a little more than halfway completed, Martin said. Under the agreement, the city must have all of those projects completed by Dec. 31, 2026.
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 7:22 AM.
