The Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency together with the State of Ohio Attorney General and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency announced a partial settlement with the Board of Commissioners of Hamilton County and the City of Cincinnati that will set the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati (MSD) on a course to eliminate long-standing and significant sewage discharges from the sanitary sewer system.

EPA's Administrator Christie Whitman said, "Sanitary sewer overflows are a chronic and growing problem in the country, and pose a severe risk to public health and the environment. Communities must find problems in their sewer systems, and fix or upgrade them to reduce or eliminate SSOs. I'm confident that this settlement will do just that for the citizens of Hamilton County and City of Cincinnati area."

This partial settlement will put the City and County on a enforceable schedule to construct major capital improvement projects to eliminate the worst of their Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs).

The settlement was lodged on February 15, 2002 in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Ohio and is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.

For additional information, contact:

Joseph Theis
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2243A)
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460-0001
(202) 564-4053
theis.joseph@epa.gov

Andrew Cherry
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2243A)
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460-0001
(202) 564-2589
cherry.andrew@epa.gov

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