Description: Enforcement suit alleging violations of Clean Water Act related to combined sewer overflows in Chicago area in violation of NPDES permits.
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United States v. Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 07/09/2015 Opinion Download Opinion issued affirming approval of consent decree. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s approval of a consent decree between the United States and Illinois and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (District) pursuant to which the District agreed to complete a project known as the “Deep Tunnel,” among other obligations. The Deep Tunnel is a project begun by the District in the 1970s to impound water from the Chicago area’s combined stormwater and sewer system so that the water can be cleaned up and then released. Environmental groups intervened and argued unsuccessfully before both the district court and the Seventh Circuit that the consent decree was inadequate. One argument made by the intervenors before the district court was that reliance on a 2006 precipitation study to determine that the Deep Tunnel’s capacity would be adequate was inconsistent with EPA’s National Water Program 2012 Strategy: Response to Climate Change. The groups argued that EPA should have studied several years of data, more intense storms, and rapidly recurring storms. The district court rejected this and other arguments in its January 2014 decision. The Seventh Circuit agreed with the district court that consent decree was reasonable “in light of the current infrastructure, the costs of doing things differently …, and the limits of knowledge about what will happen when the system is complete.” -
United States v. Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 01/06/2014 Memorandum Opinion and Order Download Consent decree entered. 09/05/2013 Response Download Response filed in opposition to entry of consent decree. 09/05/2013 Response Download Response filed in opposition to entry of consent decree. 06/07/2013 Motion Download Motion filed by United States and Illinois for entry of consent decree. 08/21/2012 Complaint Download Complaint-in-intervention filed. 12/14/2011 Consent Decree Download Proposed consent decree filed.