[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 128 (Thursday, July 6, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43137-43138]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-14263]
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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Notice of Proposed Modification of Consent Decree Under the Clean
Water Act
On June 29, 2023, the Department of Justice lodged a proposed First
Modification of Consent Decree (``Modification'') in the United States
District Court for the District of Puerto Rico in the lawsuit entitled
United States v. Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, No. 3:15-CV-
02283. In this action, filed on September 15, 2015, the United States
alleged that the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (``PRASA'')
had violated the Clean Water Act (``CWA''), 33 U.S.C. 1251, et seq.,
with regard to 52 PRASA wastewater treatment plants (``WWTPs'') and
their associated wastewater collection systems, 768 wastewater pump
stations, 119 water treatment plants (``WTPs''), and PRASA's Puerto
Nuevo Regional WWTP Sewer System (``Puerto Nuevo Sewer System''), the
sewer system that services San Juan. On May 23, 2016, the United States
District Court for the District of Puerto Rico entered a Consent Decree
(``Decree'') that required extensive injunctive relief. The
Modification makes certain changes to the requirements of the Decree,
including granting extensions of time for PRASA to complete certain
projects. The most significant revisions of the Decree are as follows:
The Decree required PRASA to implement six projects to address
washwater discharges from drinking water treatment plants by various
deadlines from December 2017 to December 2020. PRASA has not completed
one of these projects. The deadline for this project has been extended
to May 31, 2027.
The Decree required PRASA to implement 17 projects to address
various problems in its sanitary wastewater system by various dates
from December 2015 to December 2020. PRASA has completed ten of these
projects. The Modification provides an extension of time for seven of
the projects with new deadlines ranging from December 31, 2023, to
December 31, 2028.
The Decree required that PRASA implement a Sewer System
Reconnaissance involving the inspection and cleaning of the sewers
located in the Puerto Nuevo Sewer System. The Modification extends
certain of the deadlines for these projects and establishes deadlines
for other aspects of these projects.
[[Page 43138]]
The Decree required that PRASA begin reporting the amount of wet
weather and dry weather discharges from combined sewer (sewers
conveying both wastewater and stormwater) outfalls by September 15,
2018, including estimated flow, and that, if PRASA determined that it
could not estimate flow by that date, explain why such reporting was
not feasible and provide a date by which such reporting would be
feasible. The Modification provides that, by May 31, 2025, PRASA have a
calibrated and validated model for the Puerto Nuevo Sewer System that
will enable PRASA to estimate, based on combined sewer outfall level
monitoring and sewer system modeling, the volume of each Combined Sewer
Overflow (``CSO'') discharge and that PRASA begin to report the
location, time, and estimated volume of each CSO discharge.
The Decree required PRASA to include in its Spill Response and
Clean-up Plan criteria and strategies for public notification of SSOs/
CSOs. The Modification requires PRASA to post to its website a table
providing information concerning SSOs and CSOs. The Modification also
requires PRASA to provide information on its website concerning where
CSOs occur, the dangers posed by CSOs, methods for reporting CSOs, and
its efforts to control CSOs.
In addition to the changes to the Decree discussed above, the
Modification also requires PRASA to implement 17 new wastewater
projects, at a total estimated cost of about $530 million. The
deadlines for completion of these projects range from December 31,
2024, to December 31, 2030.
The publication of this notice opens a period for public comment on
the Modification. Comments should be addressed to the Assistant
Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and
should refer to United States v. Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer
Authority, No. 3:15-CV-02283 (D.P.R.), D.J. Ref. No. 90-5-1-1-08385/4.
All comments must be submitted no later than 30 days after the
publication date of this notice. Comments may be submitted either by
email or by mail:
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To submit comments: Send them to:
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By email............................ [email protected].
By mail............................. Assistant Attorney General, U.S.
DOJ--ENRD, P.O. Box 7611,
Washington, DC 20044-7611.
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During the public comment period, the Modification may be examined
and downloaded at this Justice Department website: https://www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees. The Department of Justice will
provide a paper copy of the Modification upon written request. Please
email your request to [email protected] or mail your
request to: Consent Decree Library, U.S. DOJ--ENRD, P.O. Box 7611,
Washington, DC 20044-7611.
Henry Friedman,
Assistant Section Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment
and Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 2023-14263 Filed 7-5-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-P