No sooner did the federal government file a lawsuit against the Hammond Sanitary District over violations of the Clean Water Act than a settlement was announced.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management filed the joint lawsuit in U.S. District Court on Feb. 3, which produced an agreement that apparently had already been in the works with the Hammond Sanitary District.
The federal agencies issued a joint news release describing “long standing” violations of the Clean Water Act involving discharges of untreated sewage into the Grand Calumet and Little Calumet rivers and flow backup into homes. The settlement requires the Hammond Sanitary District to make “significant infrastructure improvements” and pay a $561,000 fine.
In addition, the Hammond Sanitary District has agreed to take actions over the next 18 years to manage sewer overflows and effectively treat stormwater runoff.
The Hammond Sanitary District, with the town of Munster as its partner, has 10 combined sewer outfalls that discharge in the Grand Calumet and Little Calumet rivers. When wastewater systems overflow, untreated sewage and other pollutants can be released to local waterways, threatening water quality and potentially contributing to beach closure and health concerns, the release stated.
On Jan. 24, the Hammond Sanitary Board approved a consent decree with state and federal agencies agreeing to terms and thereby avoiding further litigation. Hammond Sanitary District President Dean Button, who also serves as Hammond city engineer, said he was pleased with the settlement and that it was turned around so quickly. He noted that it’s not official until a public comment period is completed and that the district would pay the fine out of existing cash reserves.
The consent decree calls for finalizing a plan, likely during the middle of 2018, that will require the district to implement a series of construction projects to prevent over a billion gallons of combined sanitary and stormwater from discharging into the Grand and Little Calumet rivers annually. The largest of these projects, a large basin on Columbia Avenue, was completed in late 2014.
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During the final phase of negotiations, the district worked with the U.S. EPA and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to resolve regional issues with its customer communities, namely Highland and Griffith. The district and Griffith approved their new agreement in November 2016, under which the district will receive $2.7 million from Griffith for its share of operating costs and capital projects. The district is working with Highland officials to finalize a similar agreement.
“We felt we owed it to the district ratepayers to ensure that the customer communities pay their fair share of the burden of these expensive projects in exchange for continued access to the district’s wastewater treatment system,” Button said. “We have now achieved that in agreements fair to all parties.”
Mike Hawkins, Munster’s representative to the Hammond Sanitary District, participated in negotiations over several years.
“At first, due to past missteps and poor communication between the district and the agencies of years back, the atmosphere was guarded on both sides,” he said. “But a lot of good efforts and honest discussions between the agencies and the Hammond Sanitary District team in addition to considerable serious work resulted in the final agreement.”
Jim Masters is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.