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Combined Sewer Overflows
Recent Additions
June 12, 2012
Post Construction Compliance Monitoring Guidance (PDF) (252 pp, 10MB) - This document presents guidance on how to conduct effective post construction compliance monitoring, as provided in the 1994 Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Control Policy (59 Fed. Reg. 18688), which established a national approach under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program for controlling discharges into the nation’s waters from combined sewer systems (CSSs). The CSO Control Policy defines expectations for regulated communities, state water quality standards (WQS) authorities, and NPDES authorities. One of these expectations is that regulated communities should develop Long Term CSO Control plans (LTCP). The ninth element of a Long Term CSO Control Plan is the development of a post construction compliance monitoring program adequate to verify compliance with water quality-based requirements and ascertain the effectiveness of CSO controls. EPA expects, however, that all CSO communities, regardless of whether they have an LTCP, will conduct post construction compliance monitoring.
October 27, 2011
August 09, 2011
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The Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Green Long-Term Control Plan (LTCP) Template for Small Communities (termed the Green LTCP-EZ Template) is a planning tool for small communities that are required to develop an LTCP to address CSOs. The Green LTCP-EZ Template provides a framework for organizing and completing an LTCP that builds on existing controls, including the use of both green and conventional gray infrastructure, to assist in the elimination or control of CSOs in accordance with the federal Clean Water Act (CWA). Use of the Green LTCP-EZ Template and completion of the forms and schedules associated with the Green LTCP-EZ Template can help produce a Draft LTCP.
In May 2007, U.S. EPA developed a planning tool (LTCP-EZ) for small CSO communities to design long-term CSO control plans using conventional gray CSO controls. The Green LTCP-EZ Template is an updated version of the original in that it adds several green infrastructure practices, such as green roofs, vegetated swales, bioretention basins, pervious pavements, and rain barrels, in conjunction with conventional gray CSO controls, to develop a CSO long-term control plan. The Green LTCP-EZ can be used for communities who want to assess the potential for green infrastructure controls. For communities who do not wish to assess the potential for green infrastructure, the original LTCP-EZ Template can still be used and is available at www.epa.gov/npdes/cso.
This document is not itself a regulation or legally enforceable, but rather provides a path towards compliance with requirements of the 1994 CSO Control Policy in accordance with section 402(q) of the Clean Water Act. Communities, small or otherwise, might find the tool useful and should consult with their permitting authorities to determine whether it is appropriate for them to use all or some portions of the Green LTCP-EZ Template.
March 12, 2008
November 05, 2007
- Report to Congress: Combined Sewer Overflows to the Lake Michigan Basin [PDF - 1.8 MB - 88 pp] - This EPA Report to Congress provides an assessment of the occurrences of combined sewer overflows from Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) into the Lake Michigan basin. The Report also provides information about the enforcement of existing regulations concerning discharges and the future steps the EPA plans to take to minimize such overflows.
August 24, 2007
April 19, 2007
- Agreement to Promote Green Infrastructure - EPA and four national groups signed a statement of intent to promote the use of green infrastructure to help solve stormwater runoff and sewer overflow problems. The statement of intent pledges cooperation among these groups to promote the use of various green infrastructure techniques such as rain gardens, bioretention cells, infiltration swales, green parking lot design, rain barrels, and many others. Today's agreement supplements an early statement supporting green infrastructure that has been signed by over 30 national groups.
August 26, 2004
- Report to Congress: Impacts and Control of CSOs and SSOs - Presents a comprehensive characterization of CSOs and SSOs, including the extent of environmental and human health impacts caused by CSOs and SSOs, the technologies used by municipalities to address these impacts, and the resources spent by municipalities to control CSO and SSO discharges. The Report finds that the occurrence of CSOs and SSOs is widespread, and that CSOs and SSOs cause or contribute to environmental and human health impacts. Further, the Report finds that there are many existing structural and non-structural technologies that are well-suited for CSO and SSO control.
January 08, 2004
November 04, 2003
- EPA Issues Draft Policy on Blending at Sewage Treatment Facilities for Public Comment - EPA has issued this draft policy to establish consistent national guidelines on the practice of blending that is used by municipal sewage treatment facilities to manage high flows associated with storm events. Already widely used, blending is a technique to manage high flows that could damage sensitive parts of the sewage treatment system or could lead to overflows of raw sewage into local waterways. The draft policy outlines safeguards and requirements to be followed during blending and restates the requirement that all discharges must continue to meet Clean Water Act permit limits. The public comment period ended on January 9, 2004.
April 28, 2003
- 2003 Report to Congress Meeting on the Impacts and Control of Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) and Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs) - On June 24 and 25, 2003, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a meeting in Washington, D.C., to provide stakeholders with an opportunity to discuss EPA's 2003 Report to Congress on the Impacts and Control of Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) and Sanitary Sewer
Overflows (SSOs). This report, due in December 2003, investigated environmental and human health impacts of CSOs and SSOs, resources spent by municipalities to control these impacts, and technologies for
controlling these impacts.
January 31, 2003
December 01, 2002
- Summary of Experts' Workshop on Sewer Overflows [PDF Format] - This document
summarizes a workshop on the public health effects of sewer overflows. EPA invited a group of public health experts to come
together to discuss these issues on August 14 and 15, 2003 in Arlington, Virginia. This workshop was held to support the development of a related Report to Congress which is due in December 2003.
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