EPA, DOJ reach agreement to close Consent Decree with the Knoxville Utilities Board
ATLANTA (June 14, 2022) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion to terminate the consent decree (CD) with the Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB) citing concurrence and completion of work by KUB in the agreement.
In February 2005, the EPA, DOJ, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), the City of Knoxville and the Tennessee Clean Water Network (TCWN) entered into a comprehensive Clean Water Act settlement with KUB. The purpose of the settlement was to ensure the proper management, operation, and maintenance of KUB's sewer system including measures to prevent overflows of untreated sewage and to accomplish three primary goals:
- Eliminate Unpermitted Discharges from the wastewater collection system. “Unpermitted Discharges” are sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) that reach waters of the U.S.
- Develop and implement Management, Operation, and Maintenance (MOM) programs to ensure well maintained publicly owned treatment works into the future.
- Eliminate bypasses of untreated sewage at the Fourth Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) and the Kuwahee WWTP.
As a result, and following subsequent CD amendments, KUB has successfully developed and implemented the following plans and programs:
- A Corrective Action Plan that rehabilitated the sanitary sewer system at a cost of $530M, by completing 134 capital improvement projects.
- A Composite Correction Program aimed at rehabilitating the Fourth Creek and Kuwahee WWTPs at a cost of $120M.
- The Continuing Sewer System Assessment Program to inspect 100% of the sewer collection system on a 12-year cycle to ensure that the collection system is properly maintained for future generations.
“With the compliance of this consent decree, Knoxville and the surrounding areas are more invested and prepared to prevent overflows which makes for a safer, healthier environment for all," said EPA Region 4 Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division Director Carol Kemker. “Underserved communities benefited the most by the action of KUB.”
The goals of the original CD focused on improvements to KUB’s overall collection system, which KUB completed on December 31, 2016. The later amended CD focused on deficiencies at the Fourth Creek and Kuwahee WWTPs. KUB reported on January 28, 2022, that all work under the amended CD had been completed and therefore requested formal termination of the CD. The EPA, DOJ, TDEC, and City of Knoxville all now concur and are proceeding with termination.
“Economically Distressed” census tracts identified in the 2022 Appalachian Regional Commission study identified several environmental justice communities within Knoxville, which include: Amherst, Lonsdale, Sutherland, Western Heights, Mechanicsville, North Knoxville, Park City, Burlington, Riverside, Sevier Avenue, Inskip, and Vestal. These disadvantaged neighborhoods have had significant work done to their wastewater collection systems. About 150 miles, or 45% of the sewer lines within these communities, have been replaced or rehabilitated, which is higher than KUB’s system average of just under 40%. In addition, KUB’s Supplemental Environmental Project provided $2M in funding for low-income residents to replace their private laterals (private sewer lines from the residence which connect to the city sewer lines).
In addition, the KUB CD required the development and implementation of comprehensive management, operation, and maintenance (MOM) programs to prevent future overflows; respond to overflows when they occur, including cleaning up building backups; to continuously analyze the causes of overflows and propose specific corrective action plans to abate such causes; comprehensively review the performance of its treatment plants; and institute a comprehensive water quality monitoring program.
For more information on this consent decree please visit the EPA website: https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/consent-decree-and-complaint-knoxville-utilities-board