December 22, 2005

The Department of Environmental Quality, with assistance from the Department of Attorney General, has reached agreement on a Consent Judgment, filed December 21, in the Ingham County Circuit Court, with the city of Allen Park, Wayne County. The Consent Judgment addresses the city’s untreated sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) to waters of the state that have occurred from the city’s sanitary sewer system since 2000.

SSOs are discharges of raw or inadequately treated sewage from municipal sanitary sewer systems. When an SSO occurs, sewage is released into areas such as basements, city streets, and streams, rather than being transported to a treatment facility. They are illegal and often constitute a serious environmental and public health threat.

“Sewer overflows pose a significant threat to Michigan’s lakes and streams,” said DEQ Director Steven E. Chester. “We are pleased that Allen Park has made the commitment to undertake necessary infrastructure improvements to avoid these types of situations from occurring in the future.”

"This settlement demonstrates my commitment, along with that of the DEQ, to enforce Michigan's laws and protect Michigan's waters and environment in order to keep families safe," said Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox.

The DEQ has initiated a program to eliminate SSOs from entering waters of the state by entering into legally enforceable agreements with the responsible municipality. As part of this strategy, Allen Park was identified as a municipality that experienced SSOs during wet weather events and needed to perform corrective actions to its sanitary sewer system in order to eliminate future SSOs. The settlement requires the city to perform corrective actions within the sanitary sewer system, to pay a civil fine in order to resolve the violations, and to reimburse the DEQ for the costs of the enforcement investigations conducted that were related to the violations.

Editor’s note: DEQ news releases are available on the department’s Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

“Protecting Michigan’s Environment, Ensuring Michigan’s Future”

Revised December 22, 2005 by Pat Watson