The City of Lakewood Ohio Settlement Information Sheet

WASHINGTON (November 1, 2022) — The city of Lakewood, Ohio, has agreed to perform work that will significantly reduce discharges of untreated sewage from its sewer system into Lake Erie and the Rocky River. The settlement is set forth in an interim partial consent decree that was filed today in federal court in the Northern District of Ohio.

• Overview of Company
• Violations
• Injunctive Relief
• Health Environmental and Effects
• Civil Penalty
• Contact

Overview of Company

The Interim Partial Consent Decree in this matter, entered in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio on January 31, 2023, partially resolves a United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) and the State of Ohio’s enforcement action against the City of Lakewood, Ohio (the “Lakewood”) for violations of Sections 301 and 402 of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) alleged in the underlying complaint for unlawful discharges of sanitary sewer overflows and combined sewer overflows.

Violations

The complaint filed along with the proposed Interim Partial Consent Decree alleges that Lakewood discharged untreated sanitary sewage into the Rocky River or directly into Lake Erie on at least 1,933 occasions from January 2016 through the present. The complaint also alleges that on numerous occasions from January 2016 through the present, Lakewood discharged wastewater from combined sewer outfalls that violated the effluent limitations included in its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.

Injunctive Relief

The proposed Interim Partial Consent Decree requires Lakewood to perform the following elements of injunctive relief:

• complete construction of a high-rate treatment system that will treat combined sewer overflows and build two large storage basins that will hold millions of gallons of wastewater until it can be sent to the wastewater treatment plant;
• multiple pipelining and repair projects within its sewer system designed to eliminate causes of sanitary sewer overflows;
• a sampling pilot study designed to identify sewage in stormwater outfalls and a one-year post-construction monitoring program, which will provide the data needed for future work in Lakewood’s sewer system; and
• conduct a thorough evaluation of the sewer system and develop an updated Integrated Wet Weather Improvement Plan by December 31, 2034.

Health Environmental and Effects

The implementation of this Decree will prevent millions of gallons of raw sewage carrying harmful pollutants, such as E. coli, from being discharged to Lake Erie and the Rocky River.  These reductions in pollutants will improve water quality in Lake Erie and the Rocky River. 

Civil Penalty

Under the Consent Decree, Defendants will pay a civil penalty of $100,000, split evenly between the United States and the State of Ohio. 

Contact Information

James Vinch
Water Enforcement Division
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW (Mail Code 2243A)
Washington, DC, 20460
(202) 564-1256
James Vinch (vinch.james@epa.gov)