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City of Indianapolis Settlement

(Washington, D.C. - Oct. 5, 2006) In an important action to protect the health and environment of its citizens, the city of Indianapolis today signed a consent decree with the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to make more than $1.86 billion in improvements to curb overflows from its sewer system.

The settlement will be the third highest-cost Clean Water Act settlement addressing combined sewer overflows (CSO), and will ultimately reduce the volume of Indianapolis' untreated CSO discharges by 7.2 billion gallons in an average year. CSO systems combine sanitary (regular) sewage and stormwater runoff.

Although EPA is not aware of any health problems from sewage overflow in Indianapolis, nationwide, sewer overflows can lead to outbreaks of disease from such substances as E.coli bacteria and cryptosporidium.

"Through this agreement, Indianapolis has shown a real commitment to get rid of its long-standing sewage problems," said Granta Y. Nakayama, EPA's assistant administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "The EPA agreement will not only ensure compliance with the law, it will also benefit the citizens by significantly improving water quality in the White River and its tributaries, which are important natural resources and great assets to the city."

For more information, contact:

Alan Morrissey
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Civil Enforcement
Water Enforcement Division
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460
Office: 202-564-4026
morrissey.alan@epa.gov

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