EPA Efforts in North Hartford to Address Sewer Backups

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Region 1 office is working to address concerns about sewage overflows and basement backups in Hartford's North End.

EPA is working with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CTDEEP) to review the causes of sewer overflows in the sewer system maintained and operated by the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC).

MDC is operating under the terms of separate consent agreements with EPA and CTDEEP. CTDEEP is the lead agency overseeing MDC's efforts to eliminate discharges from combined sewer overflows in Hartford while EPA is the lead agency overseeing MDC's efforts to eliminate sanitary sewer overflows from Hartford and seven other member communities: East Hartford, Rocky Hill, West Hartford, Newington, Weathersfield, Bloomfield, and Windsor. MDC's overall program to reduce sewer overflows is named the Clean Water Project.

MDC's efforts to address combined sewer overflows (CSOs) in Hartford is being conducted under a 2022 Consent Order (pdf) (558 KB) with CTDEEP. According to CTDEEP, MDC has spent over $1.2 billion in removing 550 million gallons (from an annual average CSO volume of 1,040 million gallons) of combined sewer overflows from their system since 2005. These improvements included upgrading the Hartford Wastewater Treatment Plant, rehabilitation of over 700 acres consisting of sewer separation, lining and cleanout work to create capacity, cleaning out pipes to remove residue, and re-lining old pipes to be more hydraulically sealed. This work also included the installation of more than 25 miles of new sanitary sewer and drain pipes. A significant achievement was the disconnection of the Gully Brook watercourse from the sewer system achieving elimination of 750 million gallons of brook flow from the system and reducing CSO discharges by 200 million gallons per year.

In July 2023, CTDEEP and MDC amended the 2022 Consent Order (pdf) (1.3 MB) to prioritize work in the North Hartford including rehabilitation of private sewer connections. CTDEEP approved $185 million worth of projects to address sewer and stormwater-related flooding and backups in North Hartford, for which the state is providing $137 million in grants, subsidies, and low-interest loans. The remaining costs will be covered within MDC's rate structure with no impacts on current rates. A total of 12 separate projects have been identified, with the first scheduled to begin in September 2023 and the last in 2025. 

EPA's 2006 Consent Decree requires MDC to develop and implement sewer system operation and maintenance improvement programs to control overflows from its sewers in the surrounding member communities. MDC has improved cleaning and inspections, rehabilitated degraded pipes and manholes, and worked with member communities and customers to reduce the flow of non-wastewater (e.g., foundation drains and roof downspouts) into its sewers. MDC has closed five of the eight separate sanitary sewer overflow points identified in the EPA Consent Decree and is building a large tunnel under south Hartford to store and convey flows that would otherwise from the remaining three overflow points into the South Branch of the Park River and the Connecticut River.

As part of EPA's work with CTDEEP to review the cause of sewer overflows in Hartford, EPA conducted an inspection of MDC's system in January 2023. EPA's inspection report can be found here (pdf) (400 KB) and the appendices can be found here (pdf) (16.8 MB).

On June 14 and 15, 2023, EPA performed a sampling inspection of Hartford Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4). [Report (pdf) (1.6 MB) Appendix A (pdf) (1 MB) Appendix B (pdf) (30 KB)]

On October 23, 2023, EPA sent letters to the City of Hartford (pdf) (263 KB) and to MDC (pdf) (247 KB) stating that stormwater discharges from each entity are potentially not in compliance with the Clean Water Act. The General Permit for the Discharge of Stormwater from Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) requires that, when multiple municipalities share responsibility for management of an MS4, the registration for authorization to discharge submitted to CTDEEP shall include a description of the respective responsibilities of each entity. In March 2024, the city and MDC entered a mediation process (pdf) (231 KB) sponsored by EPA in an effort to reach consensus on how to jointly manage stormwater infrastructure. On January 14, 2025, the city and MDC finalized and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (pdf) (1.6 MB) that details how streets, storm drains, catch basins and other critical stormwater infrastructure will be maintained to reduce street flooding to the benefit of businesses and residents throughout the city. 

EPA will continue to provide updates and links to key information through this webpage.